QUESTIONS  OF  THE   DA'Y. 


II. 


III. 


IV 


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UNWISE    LAWS 


A     CONSIDERATION     OF     THE      OPERATIONS      OF 

A   PROTECTIVE   TARIFF   UPON   INDUSTRY, 

COMMERCE,    AND    SOCIETY 


BY 

/  e 

LEWIS   H.  BLAIR 


NEW    YORK    &    LONDON 

P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

%\z  J^nithcrbothcr  |1nss 

1886 

3. 


y-  337. 

B57 


COPYRIGHT   BY 

LEWIS  H.   BLAIR 

1886 


Press  of 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


-Ot)'], 


AL^ 


PREFACE. 


WHY    IS    THIS    BOOK     WRITTEN,    AND     WHAT    CLAIMS    HAS    THE 
AUTHOR    TO    SET    UP    FOR    TEACHER  ? 

As  an  answer  to  the  first  question  :  It  is  written  because 
every  writer  or  speaker  appears  to  have  handled  this  subject 
from  the  standpoint  of  some  particular  interest  to  be  benefited, 
and  few  have  attempted  to  treat  the  subject  of  a  protective  tariff 
in  a  comprehensive  manner.  Some  attack  our  tariff  because 
they  think  it  affects  some  industry  or  interest  in  which  they  are 
interested,  and  when  that  particular  interest  is  relieved,  then 
their  hostility  to  the  tariff  ceases.  Some  object  to  our  tariff 
because  it  hinders  the  free  importation  of  so-called  raw  mate- 
rials, and  when  they  are  admitted  free  their  opposition  is 
silenced.  Some  again  are  vehement  opponents  of  our  tariff 
because  under  it  we  cannot  import  ships  without  paying  duties 
on  them,  but  give  them  free  ships  and  they  have  nothing  more 
to  say  against  the  tariff.  But  few,  if  any,  attack  the  principle 
of  protection,  and  rctnain  true  to  their  preinises. 

In  this  volume  I  march  to  the  attack  of  the  very  citadel  of 
protection.  I  aim  my  shafts  at  its  very  heart,  and  if  I  fail  in 
my  object  it  is  ;/(?/ because  my  position  is  unsound,  but  because 
my  pen  is  feeble.  As  will  be  seen,  I  am  opposed  to  preferences 
and  jjrivileges  of  every  kind,  and  demand  that  every  citizen 
shall  be  as  untrammelled  (recognizing  of  course  the  necessity 
and  the  right  of  the  government  to  raise  all  the  revenue  it  re- 
quires for  the  economical  administration  of  its  affairs,)  in  his 
commercial  and  industrial  relations  as  he  is  in  his  political 
relations. 

iii 


IV  UNWISE  LAWS. 

In  reply  to  the  second  question  :  The  writer  lays  no  claim 
to  learning  or  wisdom  of  any  description.  His  book  is  not 
addressed  to  the  learned,  for  they  are  not  only  familiar  with  all 
of  his  views,  but  with  a  great  deal  more  besides,  but  it  is  in- 
tended for  plain,  sensible  people  who  have  no  time  nor  taste 
for  elaborate  disquisitions  on  the  tariff,  but  who,  nevertheless, 
would  be  glad  to  know  something  about  the  subject,  provided 
it  is  presented  in  a  manner  congenial  to  their  methods  of 
thought,  and  this  the  writer  believes  he  has  done. 

The  author  is  a  merchant  whose  calling  leads  him  to  look  on 
both  sides  of  his  business,  on  the  side  both  of  the  buyer  and 
of  the  seller,  and  he  flatters  himself  that  this  necessity  of  his 
occupation  has  enabled  him  to  look  impartially  on  all  sides  of 
the  question  of  a  protective  tariff,  and  having  done  this,  he 
hopes  that  his  effort,  while  not  equal  to  an  incandescent  lamp, 
is  yet  clear  enough  and  strong  enough  to  penetrate  and  scatter 
the  mists  that  have  been  purposely  thrown  by  designing  men 
around  the  subject  of  protection,  and  to  lead  his  readers  to  his 
own  conclusion — that  all  taxes  levied  shall  be  exclusively  for  the 
benefit  of  the  government  and  none  for  the  benefit  of  indus- 
tries whether  infant  or  ancient. 

Richmond,  Va.,  August,  1S85. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

What  are  these  Unwise  Laws      ...,....! 

CHAPTER    II. 

How  these  Unwise  Laws  have  Originated,  and  how  they  have  been 

Imposed  upon  the  Country,  although  Contrary  to  its  Interests      .  3 

CHAPTER   III. 
How  these   Unwise  Laws  at  first  Stimulate  Material  Prosperity,  and 

how  they  End  in  Material  Collapse       .         .         .         .         .         .14 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Protection  the  Cause  of  Instability  and  the  Parent  of  Panics  and  Com- 
mercial and  Industrial  Depression         ......       2i 

CHAPTER  V. 
How  Protection  Stimulates  and  finally  Demoralizes  the  Whole  Com- 
munity ...........        28 

CHAPTER  VI. 
How  Protection  Ruins  the  Mercantile  Business  .....       35 

CHAPTER  VII. 

How   Protection   Causes  National  Impoverishment  by  Artificially  Af- 
fecting the  Distribution  of  Population  .....       40 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Showing  how  Non-interference  Operates  lo  the  Welfare  of  the  People,        51 

CHAPTER  IX. 
How  Protection    (so-called)   or    Partial    Laws    Produce    Extremes    of 

Wealth  and  Poverty     .........       63 

V 


vi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

PAGE 

How  so-called  Protection  Laws  Cause  Poverty,  Stagnation,  and  Isola- 
tion or  Revolution         .......••       75 

CHAPTER  XI. 
How  so-called  Protection  Laws  Cause  Poverty,  Stagnation,  and  Isola- 
tion or  Revolution — \^Continzied\ .  ,         ...  .  .         -83 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Protection  Opposed  to  Improvement  .......       93 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Does  Protection  Insure  Permanent  High  Wages  ?         ....       94 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Why  these  Unwise  Laws  have  not  sooner  Exerted  their  Injurious  Ef- 
fects, and  why    they  must   Exert    them   in  the  Future  with  In- 
creasing Force      ..........     105 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Under  a  Protective  System,  Reciprocity  Treaties,  Free  Raw  Materials, 

and  Free  Ships  are  only  other  Forms  of  Protection        .         .         •     115 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
How  these  Unwise  Laws  Shut  us  out  of  the  Markets  of  the  World  and 

Confine  us  to  the  Home  Market 122 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Division  of  Labor        ..........      131 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 
Do  Manufacturers  Desire  High  Wages  ?      .  .  .  .  .  -139 

CHAPTER   XIX. 
The  Remedy I45 

CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Remedy — {^Continued^ 157 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Silver  Question 167 


UNWISE  LAWS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHAT    ARE    THESE    UNWISE    LAWS 

These  unwise  laws  are  of  two  kinds,  written  and  un- 
written— that  is  to  say,  those  that  are  enacted  by  some  central 
authority  generally  acknowledged  as  competent  to  enact  them 
and  with  the  power  to  have  them  executed,  and  which  are 
specifically  known  as  "  Laws,"  and  those  great  unwritten  laws 
which  reside,  without  question,  in  the  bosoms  of  untold  mil- 
lions, and  which  are  executed  with  a  certainty  and  a  severity 
unknown  to  any  written  code,  to  wit,  the  law  of  "  Caste,"  which 
binds  in  its  adamantine  chains  the  countless  myriads  of  India 
and  of  many  other  portions  of  the  globe. 

Although  caste  commands,  perhaps,  the  obedience  of  more 
souls  than  written  law,  and  although  caste  affects  our  interests 
to  a  considerable  extent  by  debasing  the  condition  of  multitudes 
with  whom  we  hold  commercial  intercourse,  therefore  render- 
ing them  less  efficient  as  producers  and  less  valuable  as  con- 
sumers, and  thus  rendering  them  less  profitable  subjects  for 
trading  with,  we  will  not  dwell  upon  or  consider  caste,  but  will 
confine  ourselves  solely  to  Written  Laws,  which  change  and 
vary  with  the  changing  and  varying  sentiments  and  interests  of 
mankind. 

Now  what  are  these  Unwise  Laws  ?  They  are  such  laws  as 
encourage  and  establish  monopoly.  They  are  such  laws  as 
interfere  with  the  natural  right  of  man  to  pursue  callings  and 

I 


2  UNWISE  LAWS. 

employments  that  are  innocent  in  themselves  or  that  are  not 
almost  universally  condemned  as  injurious  to  the  community. 
They  are  such  laws  as  make  sins  of  buying  and  selling  cer- 
tain goods,  wares,  or  merchandise,  and  attempt  to  prevent  the 
dealing  therein.  Prohibition  and  local  option  come  under  this 
head.  They  are  such  laws  as  pronounce  such  and  such  things 
luxuries  and  endeavor  to  regulate  their  use  and  diminish  their 
consumption,  and  to  that  end  load  them  with  unequal  burdens. 
Sumptuary  laws  of  all  kinds  come  under  this  head.  They  are 
such  laws  as  grant  bounties  of  any  kind.  They  are  such  laws 
as  allow  the  free  importation  of  so-called  "  raw  materials  "  for 
the  benefit  of  a  special  class,  which  necessarily  heaps  heavier 
burdens  on  all  other  classes.  In  general,  they  are  all  such  laws 
as  make  distinctions  between  man  and  man,  between  interest 
and  interest,  and  between  section  and  section.  But  specially, 
so  far  as  the  welfare  of  this  country  is  concerned,  is  the  whole 
body  of  laws  known  as  the  Protective  System  responsible,  more 
than  all  other  unwise  laws  combined,  for  the  industrial  and 
commercial  ills  that  confront  us  on  every  hand. 

All  these  laws,  however  various  their  name,  and  however 
various  their  intent,  whether  based  upon  the  hypocritical  plea 
of  the  manufacturer  that  the  workman  may  obtain  higher 
wages,  or  whether  disguised  under  the  cry  of  national  vanity 
that  we  should  produce  at  home  what  we  consume  at  home, — 
all  these  laws  have  one  strong  family  likeness,  and  that  likeness 
is  inequality.  Strike  from  them  their  inequality,  strike  from 
them  that  feature  whereby  one  or  more  are  benefited,  or  in- 
tended to  be  benefited,  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  while 
they  are  thereby  rendered  harmless,  they  are  at  the  same  time 
rendered  indifferent  to  their  former  most  ardent  advocates. 

As  what  is  unequal  is  unjust,  all  these  special  laws  are  un- 
just because  they  are  unequal.  Therefore  they  are  all  founded 
on  injustice.  And  as  whatever  is  unjust  is  in  reality  injurious, 
it  follows  that  all  these  special  laws — and  they  are  all  found  in 
our  statute-books,  either  State  or  national — must  in  the  aggre* 


UNWISE  LAWS: 


gate  inflict  a  vast  amount  of  injury  upon  the  country.  And  to 
show  how  these  unwise  or  special  laws  are  responsible  for  the 
present  depressed  condition  of  our  industrial  and  commercial 
affairs  is  the  object  of  the  following  pages. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HOW  THESE  UNWISE  LAWS  HAVE  ORIGINATED  AND  HOW  THEY 
HAVE  BEEN  IMPOSED  UPON  THE  COUNTRY,  i^LTHOUGH 
CONTRARY  TO  ITS  INTERESTS. 

The  laws  of  any  country  are  in  general  merely  the  expres- 
sion of  the  sentiments  and  interests  of  the  ruling  classes  in  that 
country.  We  need  not  go  back  to  the  warlike  Scythians,  who 
spent  their  life  in  war  and  whose  ruling  ideas  were  embodied  in 
a  naked  sword  for  their  deity,  nor  to  ancient'  Egypt,  where  the 
priesthood  ruled  and  controlled  the  legislation  of  the  day  in 
the  sole  interest  of  sacredotalism,  nor  to  less  ancient  Rome, 
(modern  in  comparison  with  Egypt,)  where  war  and  warriors 
were  the  only  objects  held  in  esteem,  all  other  than  military 
honors  and  employments  being  looked  upon  with  the  utmost 
disdain,  in  order  to  see  that  this  statement  is  literally  true, 
but  coming  down  to  recent  times  and  to  our  own  day  and  to 
our  own  country  we  see  the  same  truth  abundantly  illustrated. 

Passing  over  Feudalism  and  over  the  Papacy,  where,  in  the 
one  case  the  sword  gave  color  to  legislation,  while  in  the 
other  where  the  crozier  reigned  supreme  and  the  bodies  of 
mankind  were  tortured  and  burned  and  slaughtered  by  millions 
so  that  their  souls  might  be  saved,  let  us  come  to  the  present 
day.  Take  Germany,  and  what  do  we  find  .'*  We  find  an  em- 
pire built  up  by  the  sword  and  founded  on  conquest.  We  find 
further  that  such  a  thing  as  personal  liberty  is  almost  unknown 
when  it  comes  in  competition  with  the  imperious  will  of  Bis- 
marck, that  every  able-bodied  man  belongs  to  the  state  and  is 


4  UNWISE  LAWS. 

a  soldier  from  early  manhood  to  sedate  maturity.  We  find 
that  all  affairs  are  looked  upon  in  a  military  light,  and  that 
such  and  such  things  are  done  only  as  they  have  a  favorable 
bearing  upon  the  army.  The  citizen,  the  civilian,  is  nothing  ; 
the  army,  the  soldier,  is  every  thing. 

Take  England,  a  country  separated  from  Germany  by  only  a 
narrow  sea.  Here  we  find  a  country  devoted  to  commerce 
and  manufactures.  And  here  we  find  not  the  soldier  but 
wealth  held  in  highest  esteem.  Here  we  find  the  ablest  man 
put  in  charge,  not  of  the  War  Department,  but  of  the  Ex- 
chequer. Here  we  find  a  Gladstone  poring  over  schemes,  not 
for  the  destruction  of  man  and  of  the  wealth  man  has  created, 
but  spending  his  days  and  nights  in  perfecting  plans  for  in- 
creasing and  cheapening  manufactures  and  for  extending  the 
commerce  of  the  empire  into  the  most  distant  countries.  If  he 
can  reduce  the  income  tax  but  a  penny  on  the  pound,  if  he  can 
reduce  the  duty  on  sugar  by  the  small  sum  of  only  five  percent., 
or  if  he  can  make  the  slightest  abatement  in  the  excise,  he  deems 
himself  more  happy  than  if  the  royal  arms  had  gained  a  victory, 
and  his  people  will  award  him  greater  honors  for  these  victories 
of  peace  than  for  the  most  successful  campaigns  gained  at  the 
expense  of  noble  warriors  and  the  tears  and  lamentations  of 
wives  and  children  left  desolate  by  the  sacrifice.  And  now 
coming  home  before  seeing  how  this  prevailing  sentiment  is 
expressed  here,  let  us  go  to  the  outskirts  of  civilization  and  ob- 
serve the  action  of  the  ruling  sentiment  there.  But  here  we 
leave  written  law  and  enter  into  the  domain  of  unwritten  law. 

Take  the  Western  plains,  including  Texas,  and  what  do  we 
find  there  ?  We  find  stock-raising  the  chief  employment  and 
the  ruling  interest,  and  we  find  at  the  same  time  that  cattle  are 
more  sacred  than  men,  and  that  it  is  very  much  safer  to  murder 
a  man  than  it  is  to  steal  an  ox,  for  the  murder  generally  ends 
with  acquittal,  and  in  many  instances  it  is  not  thought  neces- 
sary to  have  even  a  trial,  Avhile  the  theft  generally  ends  with 
enough  bullets  or  rope  to  dispose  forever  of  the  culprit.     And 


UNWISE  LAWS.  5 

the  same  state  of  affairs  is  found  to  exist  in  the  lower  pen- 
insula of  Florida,  though  widely  removed  from  any  of  the  in- 
fluences prevailing  in  the  West. 

We  will  now  trace  how  this  prevailing  sentiment,  although  it 
was  not  the  voice  of  the  people,  either  numerically  or  geograph- 
ically, succeeded  in  fashioning  the  unwise  commercial  laws 
which  are  finally  bearing  such  pernicious  fruit. 

Upon  this  principle  we  might  expect  to  see  agriculture  en- 
couraged and  the  husbandman  honored.  We  might  expect  to 
see  annual  celebrations  in  honor  of  agriculture  as  in  China, 
where  the  Emperor,  though  believed  to  be  the  veritable  Son  of 
Heaven,  goes  forth  attended  by  his  court,  and  turns  the  sod 
with  a  plough,  so  that  agriculture,  the  "  nursing  mother  of  the 
arts,"  may  be  encouraged.  So  we  might  expect  to  see  here, 
on  every  ist  of  INIay,  joyful  celebrations  all  over  the  land, 
when  the  President,  attended  by  his  Cabinet  and  by  the  mem- 
bers of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  would  march  to  some  selected 
spot,  and  there,  with  his  own  hands,  turn  a  furrow  ;  and  when 
the  Governor  of  each  State,  attended  by  its  Legislature,  would 
perform  the  same  ceremony,  to  the  end  that  all  might  honor 
and  esteem  agriculture — the  great  and  the  sole  maintainer  of 
human  existence. 

We  might  expect  to  see  the  plough  chosen  as  the  national 
emblem  and  emblazoned  on  the  national  standard  with  the 
crowning  motto:  ///  hoc  signo  vinces ;  and  on  our  coins  we 
might  expect  to  see,  on  one  side,  Washington  guiding  the 
plough  ;  and,  on  the  other,  an  altar  upon  which  are  piled 
golden  sheaves  encircled  with  ruddy  fruits  and  homely 
vegetables,  encompassed  by  bleating  flocks  and  lowing  herds, 
and  surrounded  by  a  joyous  people  paying  grateful  homage  to 
the  source  of  all  their  prosperity. 

But  what  do  we  see  instead,  and  contrary  to  all  experience .' 

We  see  manufactures  fostered  and  the  manufacturer  honored. 

We  see  practically  emblazed  upon  our  banner  and  engraven 
upon  our  escutcheon  a  pig — an  iron  pig — pig-iron,  and  on  our 


6  UNWISE  LAWS. 

coins  we  behold  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio  linked 
hand  in  hand,  like  the  Liberie,  Egalite,  Fraternite  of  the 
French,  with  the  motto  :  Z'  Etat  cest  inoi,  on  one  side  ;  and, 
on  the  reverse,  around  the  altar  upon  which  the  loom  and  the 
anvil  alone  sit  enthroned,  are  no  happy,  joyous  crowds  welcom- 
ing the  return  of  spring,  but  a  silent,  sullen  throng  laboring 
under  the  weight  of  burdens  forged  from  the  bowels  of  their 
own  hard  and  heartless  patron  saint.  And  whence  comes  this 
anomaly  ?  This  chapter  proposes  to  show. 

And  to  do  this  let  us  go  back  somewhat.  In  the  settlement 
of  this  country  the  immigrants  landed  upon  shores  that  were 
very  various  in  fertility  of  soil  and  in  geniality  of  climate. 
There  was  New  England,  cold  and  barren,  and  its  rocky  shores 
lashed  by  tempestuous  seas.  There  were  the  Middle  States, 
enjoying  a  warmer  sun  and  calmer  sea,  with  broad  and  deep 
rivers  penetrating  a  rich  country,  producing,  when  cleared  of 
its  mighty  forests,  generous  crops  of  grain  of  every  description, 
and  nutritious  grasses  on  which  stock  fed  and  fattened.  There 
were  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  whose  shores  are 
washed  not  only  by  the  Atlantic,  but  also  by  the  majestic 
Chesapeake  Bay,  whose  waters,  through  means  of  its  many 
tributary  streams  extended  up  to  and  beyond  the  lovely  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains,  and  whose  soil,  besides  the  grain  and  fruits  of 
the  Middle  States,  produced  in  abundance  the  fragrant  weed 
which  cheers  the  heart  of  man,  whether  prince  or  peasant, 
from  frozen  Zembla  to  Araby  the  blest  ;  and  there  were  the 
Southern  States,  which  poured  into  the  channels  of  commerce 
their  rich  tribute  of  naval  stores,  rice  and  cotton. 

In  this  faint  picture  of  the  natural  conditions  of  the  various 
sections  of  the  country,  we  see  the  germ  of  the  unwise  laws  of 
which  we  are  treating.  But  before  proceeding  further  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  there  were  no  facilities  for  transport 
and  no  means  of  communication  except  through  means  of  sail- 
ing vessels  along  the  coast,  so  that  practically  where  people 
were  landed  there  they  had  to  stay,  and  be  the  locality  barren 


UNWISE  LA  IV S.  7 

or  fertile,  cold  or  warm,  they  had  to  accommodate  themselves 
to  their  situation.  Hence  if  a  man  was  landed  in  New  Eng- 
land there  he  had  to  stay. 

At  first,  and  for  many  years,  as  the  population  of  New  Eng- 
land was  small,  the  valleys  of  the  streams  and  the  few  other  fertile 
spots  to  be. found  here  and  there  sufficed  for  the  support  of  the 
population,  and  as  the  seas  along  the  shores  afforded  them  abun- 
dance of  excellent  fish,  it  was  many  years  before  the  subject  of 
subsistence  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  people.  But  in  those 
days  it  was  not  considered  the  correct  thing  to  have  only  about 
two  children,  as  is  said  to  be  the  style  in  modern  New  England, 
but  families  were  large.  Consequently  in  time  the  population 
became  redundant,  and  as  there  was  no  ready  outlet  to  the 
fertile  West  the  population  had  to  devise  other  means  than 
those  of  agriculture  to  procure  subsistence.  The  most  ready 
means  that  presented  themselves  were  fishing,  whaling,  and 
commerce,  and  these  they  cultivated  with  assiduity  and  suc- 
cess. Their  sails  whitened  every  sea,  their  keels  visited  every 
port,  and  wealth  flowed  in  apace.  They  caught  cod  on  the 
banks  of  New  Foundland,  they  harpooned  whales  in  the 
far  distant  Pacific,  and  they  brought  slaves  from  Africa.  They 
transported  to  Europe  the  produce  of  the  rest  of  the  country, 
and  they  brought  back  the  foreign  goods  consumed  at  home. 
One  would  suppose  that  these  hardy  sons  of  New  England 
would  have  been  satisfied  with  the  abundant  wealth  their  in- 
dustry and  enterprise  brought  them.  But  no  ;  avarice  is  never 
satisfied.  So  as  soon  as  the  Federal  Constitution  was  adopted  we 
find  them  demanding  from  Congress  a  bounty  for  catching 
fish,  and  they  obtained  it,  and  thus  was  started  the  first  of 
those  unwise  laws  from  which  we  are  now  suffering.  They  also 
demanded  that  foreign  shipping  should  be  absolutely  excluded 
from  the  coastwise  trade,  and  this  boon  they  also  obtained,  and 
by  degrees  they  demanded  that  this  and  that  interest  should  be 
burdened  for  the  benefit  of  their  industries,  and  they  first  and 
last  demanded  and  obtained  so  many  special  advantages  that 


8  UNWISE  LAWS. 

they  at  last  became  the  mariners,  the  traders,  and  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  other  sections  of  the  country.  This  is  the 
first  stage  of  the  partial  laws  we  are  writing  of  ;  the  second 
stage  we  will  write  of  a  little  further  on.  But  how  was  New 
England  enabled  to  fasten  upon  the  other  portions  of  the 
country  laws  so  inimical  to  their  interests  ?  As  we  saw  above, 
New  England  occupied  a  barren  soil,  either  frozen  or  covered 
with  deep  snow  nearly  six  months  in  the  year  ;  it  was  therefore 
under  the  necessity  of  supplementing  niggardly  nature  by  arti- 
ficial means.  It  was  impelled  by  necessity.  Locomotion  was 
too  difficult  for  emigration,  and  they  had  either  to  suffer  hun- 
ger or  to  devise  means  for  living  at  the  expense  of  other  sec- 
tions. As  New  England  was  cold  and  barren,  so  the  Middle 
States  were  mild  and  fertile.  Subsistence  was  abundant  with 
them,  and  as  the  Napoleonic  wars  afforded  them  large  profits 
for  their  flour  and  their  meat,  they  were  happy  and  content  and 
cared  little  how  New  England  shaped  legislation.  And  the 
Southern  States,  enjoying  a  warm  climate,  which  of  itself  was 
in  great  measure  house  and  raiment,  and  reaping  a  rich  reward 
from  their  monopoly  of  their  peculiar  products,  were  likewise 
happy  and  content, ,  and  consequently  cared  little  how  New 
England  moulded  commercial  legislation  ;  and  as,  moreover,  its 
statesmen  were  engrossed  with  constitutions  and  their  interpre- 
tation, they  paid  no  attention  to  the  encroachments  of  New 
England  upon  their  interests  ; — every  thing  combined,  necessity 
on  the  part  of  New  England  and  indifference  on  the  part  of 
the  other  sections  of  the  country,  to  fasten  upon  the  country 
the  system  of  unwise  and  partial  legislation  which  began  with 
the  foundation  of  the  Federal  Union,  and  which  has  flourished 
for  the  past  twenty-five  years  with  unchecked  sway. 

New  England  is  now  the  Benjamin  at  the  public  board — its 
portion  is  fivefold  that  of  the  others.  The  other  brethren 
club  in,  and  not  only  pay  their  New  England  relatives  a  bounty 
for  catching  fish,  which  is  a  highly  profitable  employment  with- 
out any  bounty,  but  they  also  allow  them  to  draw  from  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  9 

public  treasury  the  duties  they  have  paid  on  the  salt  that  cured 
that  portion  of  their  fish  they  exported  abroad. 

And  the  other  brethren  are  more  liberal  still  to  their  New 
England  relatives.  They  agree  not  only  not  to  use  any  foreign 
shipping  in  trading  between  domestic  ports,  but  they  also  agree, 
lest  some  selfish  people  should  consult  their  own  interest  and 
employ  foreign  bottoms,  that  nobody  shall  use  them,  thus 
giving  their  New  England  brethren  a  monopoly  of  this  import- 
ant branch  of  business.  And  the  other  brethren  go  still  further 
in  their  unselfishness.  They  agree  to  allow  their  New  England 
relatives  to  arrest  at  the  seaports  all  goods  brought  from  abroad, 
and  not  to  permit  them  to  land  unless  they  pay  a  fine,  euphe- 
mistically termed  duties,  of  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  per 
cent.,  in  order  that  their  New  England  brethren  may  be 
enabled  to  make  and  sell  them  at  the  enhanced  price.  Verily 
New  England  is  the  favored  child  of  the  Union. 

We  thus  see  how  New  England,  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
Union,  while  the  population  was  confined  to  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board,  and   before   it  had    overspread   the  virgin  West,  had, 
by  studying   diligently  the   methods    of   making  the  natural 
abundance  of   the  other   sections  of  the  country  administer 
to   the   natural   poverty  and  sterility  of  their   section,  created 
in  the  halls  of  legislation  an  apparent  public  sentiment,  by 
virtue  of  which  they  were  enabled  not  only  to  place  heavy  re- 
strictions on  the  country  at  large  for  their  especial  benefit,  but 
they  had  also  induced  their  fellow-countrymen  to  pay  them  for 
following  an  occupation  which,  without  any  bounty,  was  im- 
mensely profitable.     Although  these  burdens  and  restrictions 
were  necessarily  injurious  to  the  other  sections  of  the  Union, 
and  inimical  to  their  interests,  it  was  not  surprising  that  New 
England  succeeded  in  fastening  them  upon  the  country,  for  the 
reason  that,  as  we  have  seen,  the  other  sections  were  prospering 
largely  by  virtue  of  their  exceedingly  favorable  natural  condi- 
tions, and  it  is  a  trait  of  human  nature  io  be  indifferent  to  the 
profits  the  opposite  party  is  making,  provided  the  party  of  the 
first  part  is  also  making  a  good  profit. 


10  UNWISE  LAWS. 

But,  how  comes  it  that,  after  the  population  had  burst  its 
swathing  bands,  had  crossed  the  Appalachian  chain,  then  spread 
beyond  the  Ohio,  surnamed  by  its  discoverers  La  Belle  Riviere, 
an  account  of  its  limpid  waters  flowing  gently  between  beauti- 
ful hills,  wooded  to  their  tops  with  the  oak,  the  hickory,  the 
walnut,  and  other  beautiful  forms  of  vegetable  life,  and  finally 
encircled  the  mighty  West  in  its  loving  grasp, — how  comes 
it  that,  after  the  country  had  become  more  agricultural  than 
ever,  if  this  were  possible,  New  England  was  still  enabled  to 
impose  its  policy  of  bounties,  restrictions,  and  prohibitions  ? 
Strange,  is  it  not,  that  the  country,  which  now  reckoned  its 
boundaries  in  degrees  of  latitude  and  longitude  rather  than  in 
miles,  should  still  hug  the  chains  with  which  New  England  had 
shackled  all  its  interests  ?  It  looks  strange,  it  seems  almost 
incomprehensible.  But  a  simple  explanation  will  relieve  this 
fact  of  its  miraculous  character,  and  place  it  in  the  light  of 
simple  cause  and  effect.  There  are  two  classes  of  causes. 
One  class  is  that  different  parts  of  the  country  were  engrossed, 
in  interests  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  had  neither  time  nor 
inclination  to  extend  their  views  beyond  their  own  narrow 
horizon.  For  instance.  New  York  was  engrossed  in  its  great 
canal  to  the  lakes,  and  the  Southern  States  in  slavery,  in  its 
extension  and  protection,  and  neither  paid  much  attention  to 
the  selfish  schemes  of  New  England.  The  other  and  greater 
cause  was  that  the  grand  States  of  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa  were  settled  by  the  enterprising 
sons  of  New  England,  and  when  these  States  sent  representa- 
tives to  Congress,  they  sent,  of  course,  as  veritable  New  Eng- 
land men  as  if  they  had  resided  in  Boston  or  New  Haven. 
The  effect  of  this  was  that  New  England  ideas  virtually  pre- 
vailed not  only  in  their  native  seat,  but  also  over  the  whole 
extent  of  the  States  already  mentioned. 

New  England  had  found  an  open  sesame  into  Aladdin's 
Cave.  That  open  sesame  was  the  talismanic  words,  "  Be  it 
enacted."     They  had  found  that  this  magic   phrase,   "Be   it 


UNWISE  LAWS.  II 

enacted,"  opened  to  them  the  coffers  of  the  general  treasury, 
whereby  bounties  were  poured  into  the  laps  of  her  fishermen, 
thereby  enriching  that  portion  of  her  population  ;  they  had 
found  that  these  magic  words,  "  Be  it  enacted,"  shut  our  domes- 
tic ports  to  all  foreign  shipping  to  the  extent  that  foreign 
shipping  was  absolutely  prohibited  from  engaging  in  the  coast- 
wise trade,  thereby  compelling  the  whole  country  to  employ 
New  England  shipping,  and  that  thus  her  shipbuilders  and 
mariners  were  greatly  enriched  ;  they  had  found  that  this  same 
formula  of  "  Be  it  enacted  "  completely  shut  out  foreign  goods, 
or  their  cost  was  so  greatly  enhanced  that  her  children  of  the 
loom,  the  mill,  and  the  workshop  were  enabled  to  make  these 
tabooed  goods  at  a  large  profit,  and  that  this  portion  of  her 
population  was  also  greatly  enriched  ;  when,  upon  casting  their 
eyes  around  the  limits  of  their  inhospitable  section,  they  found 
every  creature  greatly  enriched  by  "  Be  it  enacted,"  what 
wonder  that  they  imbibed  the  idea,  and  that  the  idea  became 
ingrained  in  their  very  nature,  that  the  best  and  easiest  road  to 
wealth  was  to  go  to  Congress  and  get  such  and  such  laws 
enacted  ! 

As  we  have  seen,  the  West  was  largely  settled  by  men  who  had 
been  raised  amid  these  ideas.  It  was  not,  therefore,  surprising 
that,  after  they  had  exterminated  or  driven  off  the  red  man,  and 
converted  the  pastures  of  the  buffalo  into  ploughed  fields  that 
smiled  under  the  weight  of  luxuriant  harvests,  they  should  still, 
although  all  their  interests  were  now  opposed  to  the  restric- 
tive policy  of  their  former  homes,  uphold  the  old  system  which 
had  before  their  own  eyes  transformed  the  poorest  portion  of 
the  country  into  the  most  wealthy.  In  fact,  they  became  the 
most  ardent  advocates  of  all  the  restrictive  and  illiberal 
measures  of  New  England,  and  thus  New  England,  aided  by 
her  sons,  who  moulded  opinion  in  the  great  West,  was  enabled, 
to  bind  and  did  bind  the  country  in  the  industrial  chains  of 
which  we  are  now  treating. 

But  before  bestowing  upon  Massachusetts,  and  I  say  Massa- 


12  UMWISE  LAWS. 

chusetts  because  New  England  was  virtually  Massachusetts, 
all  the  odium  for  the  unwise  and  illiberal  industrial  legislation 
now  resting  so  heavily  upon  the  country,  let  us  mention  a  few 
other  causes  that  greatly  assisted  Massachusetts  in  riveting 
what  is  falsely  called  "  protection  "  upon  the  statute  books. 

The  principal  of  these  minor  causes  was  national  vanity. 
This  sentiment  manifested  itself  in  a  restless,  almost  insane, 
ambition  for  national  growth.  It  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
rapid  increase  of  population  and  wealth  naturally  occurring,  but 
it  demanded  that  the  increase  of  a  decade  should  be  encom- 
passed within  a  twelvemonth.  It  was  not  satisfied  to  see  a 
vast  increase  of  attractive  farm-houses,  increased  crops  of 
grain  and  other  agricultural  productions,  increased  numbers  of 
cattle,  sheep,  and  swine,  feeding  peacefully  in  the  fields,  but  it 
also  demanded  that  every  cross-road  should  have  its  village, 
that  the  village  should  speedily  grow  into  the  town,  and  the 
town  into  the  vast  city,  with  all  its  attendant  circumstances  of 
privation  and  vice.  Every  State  watched  the  census,  and  its 
citizens  gloried  in  increase  of  its  population,  and  mourned 
and  hung  their  heads  for  shame  if  they  found  their  State  was 
relatively  falling  behind  ;  and  this  same  feeling  descended  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  smallest  hamlet  of  the  country.  When 
one  found  his  State  or  his  city  had  greatly  outstripped  others 
in  the  race  he  felt  the  pride  of  an  ancient  Roman  when  he 
proudly  exclaimed,  Civis  Romamis  sum.  This  sentiment  is 
forcibly  illustrated  in  the  boasting  demeanor  of  the  citizen  of 
Chicago,  who  derives  fancied  importance  from  the  fact  that  he 
lives  in  the  fastest-growing  city  in  the  United  States. 

Another  form  of  this  national  vanity  was,  that  it  was  in  some 
measure  discreditable  to  buy  foreign  goods,  but  that  we  ought 
to  manufacture  at  home  all  we  use  at  home.  And  the  writer 
well  remembers  this  form  of  national  vanity  when,  as  a  boy  of 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  deliberately  chose  the  dark, 
dingy,  and  rough  paper  made  at  home  to  the  smooth  white 
sheets  made  abroad.     Well,  Massachusetts  played  upon   this 


UNWISE  LAWS.  13 

sentiment  of  national  vanity,  and  turned  it  all  to  her  own 
advantage.  She  applauded  the  idea,  and  praised  the  national 
patriotism  thus  displayed.  She  anticipated  the  action  of  the 
popular  lecturer,  who  resolved  that  his  lectures  should  be  for 
the  benefit  of  the  poor — and  that  he  was  the  poor.  She  pro- 
claimed that  manufactures  were  the  means  of  satisfying  this 
national  craving  for  rapid  growth.  She  cheered  loudly  for 
the  old  flag  and — an  appropriation.  But  the  appropriation 
must  enure  to  her  benefit.  Manufactures  must  be  excluded,  so 
that  she  might  produce  them. 

And  such  was  the  insidious  nature  of  this  desire  for  rapid 
growth,  that  Henry  Clay,  to  whom  the  manufacturers  of  New 
England  should  erect  a  monument  as  noble  and  as  lasting 
as  the  Pantheon,  succeeded  in  building  up  a  party  of  de- 
voted followers  in  the  Southern  States,  all  whose  interests 
were  utterly  averse  to  restraining  the  entry  of  foreign  goods, 
who  at  all  times  blindly  assisted  Massachusetts  in  her  efforts 
to  place  every  legal  impediment  possible  in  the  way  of  their 
fellow-citizens  obtaining  any  manufactured  goods  from  any- 
where but  Massachusetts.  Henry  Clay  and  his  Southern  ad- 
herents were  at  all  times  strenuous  supporters  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts idea,  and  in  the  clash  of  parties  over  the  subject  of 
industrial  legislation  they  were  almost  always  able  to  turn 
the  scale  in  favor  of  Massachusetts  and  against  the  other  por- 
tions of  the  Union.  The  Massachusetts  idea  of  restriction  re- 
ceived also  powerful  reinforcement  from  Pennsylvania,  which 
State,  not  content  with  the  great  natural  advantages  for  manu- 
facturing which  she  possessed  by  reason  of  juxtaposition  of 
iron  ores  and  coal,  and  which  would  have  enabled  her  to  defy 
competition,  joined  hands  with  Massachusetts,  and  by  virtue 
of  the  magic  "  Be  it  enacted,"  attempted,  and  succeeded  in  the 
effort,  to  prevent  the  consumption  of  all  iron  and  its  various 
manufactures,  except  such  as  slie  herself  should  produce. 

Thus  it  is  that  a  distinctively  agricultural  community  con- 
sented   to  have  its  natural  liberty  of  buying  where  it  chose 


14  UNWISE  LAWS. 

abridged  for  the  benefit,  primarily  of  New  England,  and  second- 
arily of  Pennsylvania.  There  is  an  aphorism  that  "  necessity 
knows  no  law."  This  may  be  true,  but  it  is  certain  that  the 
necessity  of  New  England  knew  enough  law  to  fasten  upon  our 
statute  books  the  whole  body  of  laws  relating  to  bounties,  to 
prohibition,  and  to  restriction  of  the  natural  right  of  the  citi- 
zen to  buy  and  sell  in  markets  most  conducive  to  his  interest  or 
most  agreeable  to  his  feelings. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HOW    THESE    UNWISE     LAWS     AT     FIRST     STIMULATE     MATERIAL 
PROSPERITY,   AND  HOW  THEY  END   IN    MATERIAL  COLLAPSE. 

Having  seen  how  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  fastened 
upon  the  country  what  is  popularly  denominated  the  Protective 
System,  let  us  now  examine  the  effect  of  such  laws  upon  the 
country  at  large. 

In  reading  recently  about  beavers,  it  was  learned  that  this 
sagacious  animal,  in  building  its  dwelling,  constructed  it  with  a 
shelf  running  all  around  its  interior,  just  above  the  water-line, 
and  that  when  the  beaver  went  to  bed  or  spent  his  days  at 
home,  he  perched  upon  this  shelf,  with  his  head  facing  the  wall 
and  his  tail  hanging  down  in  the  water.  And  why?  (We  presume 
the  soul  of  this  writer  must  at  some  time  in  the  misty  past  have 
spent  its  probation,  in  its  transmigration  from  amphibian  to  ter- 
restrial life,  in  the  body  of  a  beaver,  to  have  acquired  so  intimate 
a  knowledge  of  a  beaver's  mind.)  And  why  ?  In  order  thereby 
to  be  at  all  times  warned  of  danger,  whether  near  or  remote. 
For,  says  this  writer,  the  tail  of  the  beaver  is  so  extremely 
sensitive  to  vibration,  that  even  if  so  much  as  a  dog,  at  the 
distance  of  a  mile,  cross  the  stream  that  supplies  its  dam,  the 
tremor  of  the  water  thereby  set  agoing  is  immediately  conveyed 
to  the  said  tail.  Now,  whether  this  is  a  fish  story  or  not,  and, 
as  by  courtesy,  or,  at  all  events,  by  poetic  licence,  every  thing 


UNWISE  LAWS.  15 

that  swims  may  be  classed  as  a  fish,  so  this  story  about  beavers 
may  be  placed  under  this  head.  Now,  whether  the  above  be 
so  or  not,  it  is  at  all  events  certain  that  matters  in  the  universe 
around  us  are  so  nicely  adjusted  that  any  alteration  of  their 
natural  conditions  sends  tremors  and  disturbances  to  the 
utmost  limits  of  their  environment. 

The  natural  order  of  affairs  between  men  is  when  they  want 
to  exchange  objects  between  themselves  is  to  do  it  with  the 
least  impediment  possible  ;  the  idea  invariably  being  not  to  put 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  obtaining  what  they  desire,  but  to  re- 
move all  difficulties  that  may  naturally  be  in  the  way  of  pro- 
curing the  gratification  of  their  wishes  :  as,  for  instance,  making 
a  road  between  points  where  only  a  path  existed  before,  and 
finally  substituting  a  railroad  for  the  earth  road  ;  or,  bridging 
a  stream  where  it  was  formerly  crossed  by  a  boat,  and  after- 
wards replacing  the  sailboat  by  a  steamboat. 

Well,  duties,  or  taxes,  whether  protective  or  fiscal,  upon  the 
interchange  of  products  between  individuals  or  nations,  are 
interferences  with  the  natural  order  of  affairs,  and  they  produce 
disturbances  of  greater  or  less  intensity,  according  as  the  duties 
are  low  or  high. 

The  effect  of  the  imposition  of  low  duties  is  gently  to  stim- 
ulate commercial  affairs,  something  like  the  stimulating  effect 
of  some  spirituous  liquor  upon  the  human  frame,  sending  an 
agreeable  glow  from  the  stomach  to  the  utmost  verge  of  the 
nervous  system,  and  as  long  as  moderation  is  practised  little  or 
no  harm  can  come  either  from  protection  or  from  drinking. 
But  when  the  barriers  between  peoples  are  builded  high,  and 
made  difficult  of  transgression,  then  the  effects  become  intense, 
and  may  be  compared  to  the  tide  rolling  from  the  mighty 
Atlantic  into  the  narrow  British  channels,  which  even  the 
majesty  of  Canute  was  not  able  to  stay  in  its  irresistible  rise. 
But  while  a  moderate  impediment  to  intercourse  sometimes  ap- 
pears to  be  stimulative  and  beneficial,  and  while  an  almost  im- 
passable barrier  appears  to  many  to  be  the  acme  of  political 


1 6  UNWISE   LAWS. 

wisdom,  and  to  be  the  parent  of  all  the  wonderful  prosperity  of 
this  highly-favored  land,  yet  they  are  both  injurious.  But  if  in- 
jurious, why  are  such  laws  looked  upon  in  so  favorable  a  light 
by  many  wise,  sensible,  and  unselfish  people  ?  The  explana- 
tion is  simple,  and  lies  in  that  trait  of  human  nature  which 
makes  one  esteem  the  trivial  occurrences  if  near  of  more  im- 
portance than  the  mighty  event  if  remote.  Thus  a  violent 
death  in  one's  city,  and  especially  if  it  occurred  before  his  very 
eyes,  makes  a  deeper  impression  upon  an  individual  than  did 
the  death  last  summer  of  tens  of  thousands  in  Spain  who  were 
swept  off  by  cholera.  And  especially  if  the  event  is  remote  in 
time  as  well  as  in  distance  is  the  effect  faint  compared  to  a 
recent  occurrence.  Thus  the  slaughter  of  thousands  of 
Rome's  noblest  sons  at  the  battle  of  Cannae  makes  so  little  im- 
pression upon  the  modern  reader  that  he  is  more  interested  in 
the  bushel  of  golden  rings  gathered  from  the  fingers  of  the  slain 
than  in  the  human  suffering  entailed  by  this  disastrous  combat. 
And  to  ascend  to  a  nobler  comparison — the  moon,  because 
nearer,  appears  larger  than  the  greatest  planet,  and  the  smallest 
planet  in  its  turn  seems  larger  than  the  distant  star  whose  paral- 
lax the  wisest  astronomer  is  unable  to  determine. 

Thus  one  sees  the  sudden  growth  of  a  city,  caused  by  an 
additional  impediment,  it  matters  not  whether  this  impedi- 
ment be  for  the  purpose  of  raising  revenue  or  for  protection, 
raised  up  in  the  path  of  entry  of  some  species  of  merchandise 
in  which  that  city  is  interested.  Or  more  striking  still,  he  sees 
some  uninhabited  locality  in  a  few  years  converted  into  a  pros- 
perous town,  with  every  sign  of  wealth  and  happiness — sweet 
homes,  attractive  school-houses,  and  beautiful  churches  on 
every  hand,  caused  by  the  fact  that  that  spot  contained  in  close 
proximity  most  of  the  elements  essential  to  the  cheap  produc- 
tion of  the  article  in  question.  This  individual,  seeing  all 
these  evidences  of  thrift,  of  wealth,  and  of  happiness,  and  seeing 
that  they  are  the  immediate  result  of  the  impediment  referred 
to,  jumps  at  once  to  the  conclusion  that  what  produces  such 


UNWISE  LAWS.  17 

good  results  must  necessarily  be  good  itself.  And  then  he 
argues  further  with  himself,  that  if  such  an  impediment  is  good 
in  one  case  it  must  be  good  in  all  ;  and  therefore  he  favors  the 
plan  of  obstructing  every  thing,  and  thus  arises  the  Protective 
System,  which  is  a  euphemism  for  obstructions  placed  in  the 
path  of  commercial  intercourse.  Well,  these  things  are  near, 
and  are  therefore  striking,  and  the  observer  forms  his  favorable 
impression  from  them,  but  he  never  thinks,  or  if  he  does,  he 
loses  sight  of  the  fact,  that  in  consequence  of  this  impediment 
placed  in  the  way  of  the  importation  of,  say  iron,  every 
farmer  has  to  pay  an  additional  price  for  his  hoe,  his  plough, 
his  reaper,  and  all  the  numberless  farm  and  household  imple- 
ments he  is  obliged  to  buy  ;  every  mechanic  has  to  pay  an  en- 
hanced price  for  his  saw,  his  plane,  and  his  chisel  ;  every 
housekeeper,  for  his  stoves,  his  furnaces,  and  his  gas  fixtures  ; 
and  even  every  little  child,  when  he  goes  to  buy  his  first  knife, 
has  to  buy  a  meaner  one  for  his  twenty-five  cents. 

In  consequence  of  this  impediment  every  railroad  has  to  pay 
more  for  its  iron,  and  every  telegraph  and  telephone  has  to  pay 
more  for  its  wire  ;  and  there  is  not  an  interest  and  not  a  crea- 
ture in  the  broad  land  but  what  is  affected  thereby.  Every 
person's  net  income  is  also  reduced  thereby,  for  having  to  pay 
more  for  his  articles  in  which  iron  enters,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, he  of  course  has  less  left  at  the  end  of  the  year.  In 
consequence  of  this  impediment  every  person  has  to  pay  more 
when  he  travels  and  when  he  uses  the  telegraph,  and  more 
when  he  transports  his  merchandise,  and  thus  it  is  that  every 
creature  and  every  employment  and  every  calling  has  to  con- 
tribute, some  of  their  abundance  and  some  of  their  poverty,  to 
build  up  the  town,  or  to  increase  the  size  of  the  city  or  the 
population  of  the  State.  The  plus  of  the  town,  city,  or  State 
is  secured  at  the  expense  of  the  minus  of  every  individual  in 
the  country.  Those  who  say  impediments  created  by  law  are 
beneficial,  look  only  at  what  is  near  and  obvious,  but  were  they 
to  take  a  wide  view  of  the  subject,  in  which  they  saw  the  very 


1 8  UNWISE  LAWS. 

many  laboring  for  the  very  few,  they  could  not  help  but  see 
that  obstructions  raised  by  statute,  it  matters  not  whether  they 
are  imposed  to  supply  the  necessities  of  government,  or  are 
self-imposed  as  protective  duties,  are  in  their  very  nature 
prejudicial  to  the  community. 

Let  us  now  trace  the  operation  of  the  high  protective  duties 
we  have  been  living  under  for  the  past  twenty-five  years.  A 
high  protective  tariff  is  an  artificial  barrier  erected  by  virtue  of 
"  Be  it  enacted,"  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  manufacturers  to 
obtain  from  their  fellow-citizens  higher  prices  for  their  wares. 
If  this  were  not  its  object  it  would  not  have  been  passed.  The 
effect  of  such  a  tariff  is  twofold  :  first,  it  produces  artificial 
scarcity  by  shutting  out  foreign  goods  and  thereby  has  the 
effect  of  all  scarcity,  to  wit,  to  enhance  their  price  ;  and 
secondly,  it  increases  the  cost  of  those  foreign  wares  that  do 
enter  the  country  to  the  extent  of  foreign  cost,  plus  transpor- 
tation to  our  shores,  and  plus  the  importer's  profit  or  commis- 
sion, for,  as  a  rule,  no  manufacturer  will  ship  goods  to  another 
country  unless  he  obtains  home  price  and  cost  of  laying  them 
down  in  a  foreign  port.  The  law  has  now  placed  the  manu- 
facturers in  relation  to  the  consumers  pretty  much  in  that  of  a 
rat  terrier  in  a  pit  to  a  lot  of  rats,  for  it  has  surrounded  the 
country  with  a  rampart  of  protection,  and  has  given  them  au- 
thority to  worry  and  devour  the  people,  just  as  the  terrier  does 
the  rats.  As  card-players  say  after  ace,  king,  and  queen  have 
been  played  that  "jack  is  a  gentleman,"  so  the  same  may  now 
be  said  of  the  manufacturers,  for  protection  has  fixed  matters 
to  their  exact  liking.  They  find  they  are  not  only  called  upon 
to  supply  the  vacuum  created  by  the  law,  but  they  are  also  en- 
abled by  the  same  law  to  obtain  a  much  higher  price  for  all 
they  produce.  The  result  is  they  are  overrun  with  work,  and 
as  the  price  always  rises  when  the  demand  exceeds  the  supply, 
they  are  enabled  to  get  much  higher  prices  for  their  enlarged 
production.  They  consequently  make  money  rapidly  and  ac- 
cumulate large  fortunes.     But  it  is  soon   discovered  that  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  19 

original  manufacturers  with  their  original  plant  cannot  supply 
the  demand.  Hence  it  follows  that  old  firms  increase  their 
capacity,  and  new  concerns  are  daily  established.  The  neces- 
sity for  increased  mills  and  factories  necessitates  increased 
facilities  for  erecting  them  ;  hence  an  increase  of  saw-mills, 
brick-yards,  and  stone  quarries  ;  hence  more  glass  factories,  nail 
factories,  and  shops  of  different  kinds  for  the  various  small 
wares  required  about  a  building.  All  these  schemes  succeed, 
and  all  their  projectors  become  wealthy,  but  yet  the  vacuum  is 
not  filled.  There  is  still  a  scarcity  of  goods  and  still  a  demand 
in  excess  of  the  supply.  Goods,  therefore,  rise  rapidly  in 
value,  and  in  spite  of  the  wall  protecting  the  manufacturers, 
many  foreign  goods  come  in,  for  the  people  must  have  them. 
But  as  long  as  foreign  goods  come  in  in  spite  of  the  high  duties, 
the  profits  of  manufacture  continue  large,  and  the  old  manu- 
facturers still  continue  to  add  mill  to  mill  and  factory  to 
factory,  and  new  men  in  addition  are  constantly  joining  the 
ranks  of  the  manufacturers.  But  still  there  is  a  vacuum,  and 
still  there  is  a  demand  for  more  goods.  More  factories  are  re- 
quired and  more  factories  are  built,  and  in  a  short  time  there 
arises  a  Lowell,  a  Lawrence,  a  Lynn,  a  Providence,  a  Bridge- 
port, a  Waterbury,  and  numberless  other  manufacturing  towns, 
some  noted  for  cotton,  some  for  wool,  some  for  shoes,  some  for 
metal  goods,  and  all  for  manufactures  built  up  by  virtue  of  the 
magic  "Be  it  enacted."  This  process  continues  for  years,  till 
at  last  whole  States  become  covered  with  immense  manufactur- 
ing establishments,  and  cotton  lords,  woollen  lords,  iron  lords, 
and  all  sorts  of  manufacturing  lords,  who  count  their  wealth 
by  millions  and  their  workmen  by  thousands,  abound  on  every 
hand.  Their  magnificent  dwellings  filling  every  town  and  city, 
their  splendid  equipages,  their  beautiful  yachts,  and  their  ele- 
gant surroundings  are  constant  but  eloquent  though  silent 
proclamations  to  the  world  that  manufactures  made  them  what 
they  are.  The  world  admires  and  envies  and  determines  to 
become  manufacturers  too,  for  it  appears  as  if  there  could  not 
be  too  much  manufacturing. 


20  UNWISE  LAWS. 

But  at  last  the  vacuum  becomes  filled,  and  the  handwriting 
appears  on  the  wall,  but  nobody  can  see  it,  and  indeed  who 
can  suspect,  much  less  see,  any  harm  in  what  for  years  has  been 
a  source  of   great   advantage.     Evidences   of   manufacturing 
being  overdone,  may  begin  to  appear  in  decreased  demand  for 
goods,  and  decreased  rate  of  profit,  but  profits  have  been  so 
large  the  manufacturers  can  sell  for  less  and  can  still  make 
money.     So  new  establishments  arise  after  the  supply  equals 
the  demand,  and  promoters  of  new  enterprises  still  get  up  new 
companies  for  all   sorts   of   things.     Presently,   however,  the 
supply  exceeds  the  demand,  and  goods  begin  to  accumulate. 
But  in  the  meanwhile  the  impoverishing  effect  of  having  to 
pay  too  much  for  goods  begins  to  manifest  itself  in  inability  of 
the  people  to  buy  the  amount  of  goods  they  formerly  did,  so 
that  while  the  supply  is  increasing  the  demand  is  decreasing. 
This  double  cause  produces  corresponding  effects,   and  the 
manufacturers,  who,  only  lately,  were  besought  for  goods,  now 
find  they  have    to   beseech    the  buyers.     The  manufacturers 
then  begin  to  compete  with  one  another,  and  in  a  short  time 
one  manufacturer  and  then  another  fails.     But  they  die  hard, 
for  having  made  fortunes  when  the  -tide  was  flowing  freely 
they  struggle  as  hard  when  the  ebb  follows.     But  all  in  vain. 
Protection  has  so  stimulated  production,  manufacturing  power 
has  increased  vastly  in  excess  of  the  capacity  of  the  people  to 
consume,  and  goods  become  a  drug  upon  the  market.     But 
goods   must   be    sold  to  meet   notes   or  acceptances,    so    the 
auction  houses  are  filled  with  consignments  that  must  be  sold. 
Goods  are  slaughtered,  and  the  whole  manufacturing  system 
tumbles  and  falls.     The  magnates  of  the  loom,  the  anvil,  and 
the  shops  are  lords  no  more.     Their  dwellings,  rivalling  in 
luxury  and  elegance  the  palaces  of  the  Old  World,  are  deserted 
or   sold  under   the   hammer.     Their   yachts,   that   but   lately 
spread  their  snowy  sails  to  the  spanking  breeze,  are  tied  up  to 
the  wharf  to  rot.     Their  restive  steeds,  that  excited  the  envy 
of  the  pedestrian,  have  perhaps  gone  to  drag  some  omnibus 


UNWISE  LAWS.  21 

or  coupe.  Those  factories  and  mills,  that  recently  vibrated 
day  and  night  with  the  ceaseless  din  of  spindles  and  looms, 
and  those  rolling-mills  and  machine-shops  that  belched  smoke 
by  day  and  fire  by  night,  are  now  as  silent  as  the  grave,  and 
the  busy  multitude  that  wrung  health,  and  happiness,  and 
comfort  from  the  constant  throbs  of  all  this  machinery,  are 
now  idle  and  discontented,  sighing  in  vain  for  the  return  of 
former  times,  and  fortunate  indeed  if  dire  want  stare  them 
not  in  the  face. 

Thus  it  is  that  protection  first  stimulates,  then  congests,  and 
finally  spreads  ruin  and  desolation  broadcast  over  the  land. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

PROTECTION    THE    CAUSE     OF     INSTABILITY     AND     THE     PARENT 
OF  PANICS  AND  COMMERCIAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  DEPRESSION. 

One  may  ask,  Why  charge  protection  with  the  sin  of  insta- 
bility ?  Is  not  instability,  he  may  further  ask,  stamped  upon 
every  thing  ?  Is  it  not  by  virtue  of  the  instability  of  the  atoms 
contained  in  a  grain  of  wheat  that  the  said  grain,  when  sub- 
jected to  heat  and  moisture,  develops  into  a  tiny  plant,  which 
in  turn  develops  into  the  golden  sheaves  of  the  harvest  ?  Is 
it  not  by  virtue  of  instability  that  the  molecules  that  make  up 
the  infant  change  from  day  to  day,  nay,  from  moment  to  mo- 
ment, so  that  in  time  this  infant  becomes  the  beautiful  woman 
or  the  strong  man  ?  He  may  say  that  instability  is  the  very 
essence  of  life,  and  of  all  the  blessings  attending  it,  and  that 
when  instability  ceases  then  death  follows.  If,  then,  one  may 
say  protection  produces  instability,  we  will  hail  protection  as  a 
beneficent  principle,  and  cling  to  it  forever.  All  this  is  true  of 
the  instability  of  nature  untrammelled  by  man,  but  as  soon  as 
man  attempts  to  improve  on  nature,  then  this  instability  which, 
when  undisturbed,  is  the  source  of  all  the  good  we  enjoy,  be- 


22  UNWISE  LAWS. 

comes  an  engine  of  destruction  which  sweeps  even  nations  off 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

Protection  is  the  effort  of  man  to  improve  upon  the  laws  of 
nature,  is,  in  fact,  an  interference  with  these  laws,  and,  like  most 
interferences  with  nature,  which  end  in  damage  or  death,  its  epi- 
taph may  be  written,  like  that  of  the  man  who  was  well  but  de- 
sired to  be  better  :  "  I  was  well  ;  I  wished  to  be  better  ;  I  took 
physic,  and  here  I  lie."  It  is  of  artificial  instability  we  speak. 
Stability  in  instability  is  the  order  of  nature.  While  instability 
stamps  every  thing  in  nature,  this  instability  is  of  such  a  charac- 
ter that  man  can  learn  to  foresee  its  operation,  and  act  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  secure  benefits  or  to  avoid  evils.  The  insta- 
bility of  nature  leads  to  well-defined  results — in  other  words, 
leads  to  stability.  When  things  are  stable  and  steady  we  can 
generally  foresee  the  end,  but  when  things  are  unstable  no  man 
can  know  what  the  end  may  be.  A  man,  by  keeping  up  a 
steady  gait,  may  walk  from  ocean  to  ocean  and  arrive  fresh  at 
his  journey's  end,  but  if  he  pursues  an  unstable  course,  now 
walking,  now  lounging,  and  now  running,  he  breaks  down  at  the 
beginning.  We  are  taught  this  lesson  at  an  early  age  when  we 
read  how  the  unstable,  unsteady  hare  was  beaten  by  the  steady 
tortoise.  Therefore,  stability  in  the  affairs  of  men  is  the  great- 
est blessing,  and  every  thing  that  tends  to  stability  should  be 
encouraged.  Therefore,  too,  instability  is  the  greatest  evil  that 
can  afflict  man,  and  whatever  produces  instability  is  an  evil  to 
be  eradicated. 

We  will  now  show  how  protection  produces  instability. 

Protection,  as  we  have  seen,  causes  artificial  scarcity  by  ex- 
cluding foreign  goods,  and  scarcity,  whether  natural  or  artificial, 
is  followed  by  high  prices.  Therefore  manufacturers  are  called 
upon  to  supply  not  only  the  natural  demand  that  existed,  but 
also  the  artificial  scarcity  caused  by  the  magic  "  Be  it  enacted." 
Under  ordinary  demand,  or  the  demand  existing  before  the 
law  had  created  for  the  manufacturers  a  greatly  enlarged  extra 
demand,   the  manufacturers  were  necessarily   enjoying  good 


UNWISE  LAWS.  23 

profits,  at  the  least  the  average  profits  of  other  employments  or 
occupations,  and  most  probably  they  were  enjoying  higher 
profits  than  the  average  because  manufacturing  requires  capital 
and  skill,  and  consequently  the  few  persons  that  combined  these 
two  essential  advantages  would  be  subjected  to  less  competition 
than  others.  But  if  they  were  not  enjoying  average  profits, 
they  would  soon  quit  manufacturing  till  supplies  were  so  re- 
duced that  scarcity  would  again  bring  up  the  price.  So  we  see 
that  manufacturers  were  enjoying  at  least  average  profits  under 
a  normal  state  of  affairs.  This  being  so,  what  is  the  effect  of 
the  greatly  increased  demand  thrown  upon  them  by  reason  of 
special  legislation  ?  When  one  man  has  something,  and  two 
men  want  it  badly,  competition  is  at  once  set  up,  and  they  bid 
against  each  other  and  raise  the  price,  and  if  the  relation  be- 
tween supply  and  demand  is  kept  up  a  permanent  increase  of 
price  is  established.  Thus,  when  axes  or  other  necessary  im- 
plements of  iron  are  shut  out,  the  manufacturer  of  axes  finds 
himself  immediately  besieged  by  men  requiring  axes  for  clear- 
ing their  land,  etc.,  and,  as  he  cannot  supply  the  demand,  he 
at  once  puts  up  his  price  for  axes  to  a  moderate  extent,  and  at 
once  sets  about  enlarging  his  plant  for  the  production  of  axes. 
At  first  there  was  a  supply  of  foreign  axes  in  the  stores  and  in 
the  hands  of  the  consumers,  and  they  for  a  time  help  to  lessen 
the  demand  on  the  ax  manufacturer,  but  as  they  give  out,  the  de- 
mand becomes  so  large  and  so  urgent  that  axes  begin  to  be  im- 
ported again,  and  the  price  of  axes  at  once  rises  to  the  foreign 
cost,  plus  transportation,  plus  the  heavy  duty  exacted  upon 
entering  our  ports,  plus  an  importer's  profit  upon  foreign  cost, 
transportation,  and  duties.  This  then  becomes  the  market- 
price  for  axes,  and  the  manufacturer  fixes  his  price  accordingly. 
The  manufacturer  now  enjoys  a  very  large  profit,  for,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  must  have  been  making  a  living  before;  if  not,  he 
would  have  ceased  making  axes,  for  in  addition  to  his  former  profit 
he  gains  in  profit  at  first  the  whole  cost  of  transportation,  the 
whole  of  the  duties,  and  a  portion  of  the  importer's  profit.    He 


24  UNWISE  LAWS. 

thus  increases  rapidly  in  wealth,  of  which  we  saw  an  instance 
in  the  years  1879-81,  when  the  manufacturers  of  engines  were 
enabled  to  fix  their  own  prices,  their  own  terms  of  payment, 
and  their  own  times  of  delivery.  Many  can  remember  vividly 
what  humble  suppliants  they  were  to  these  highly-blessed 
manufacturers,  and  although  they  brought  money  in  their 
hands,  they  were  compelled  in  many  instances  to  accept  as  a 
favor  from  these  independent  gentry  a  vague  promise  to  furnish, 
at  an  indefinite  future,  an  engine,  at  a  price  to  be  arbitrarily 
fixed  by  themselves.  Under  such  circumstances  wealth  flows 
in  rapidly  upon  the  ax  manufacturer,  and  what  does  he  do  ? 
He  of  course  builds  more  ax  factories  and  improves  the  facil- 
ities of  his  old  ones.  These  evidences  of  his  prosperity  are  so 
great  others  turn  their  attention  to  the  making  of  axes, 
and,  in  addition  to  individual  manufacturers,  stock  companies 
are  formed  also.  By  degrees  these  new  factories  begin  to  fill 
the  vacuum  created  by  law,  and  drive  out  the  foreign  article, 
but  even  after  this  is  done,  the  margin  of  profit  still  remains  very 
high,  and  there  is  still  money  in  the  manufacture  of  axes. 
Hence,  not  only  are  other  enterprises  for  the  manufacture  of 
axes  started,  but  the  old  concerns  still  continue  to  enlarge  and 
to  improve  their  plant.  But  the  demand  for  axes  is  not  infinite, 
so  the  supply  begins  to  catch  up  with  the  demand,  and  profits 
begin  to  lessen.  But  now  comes  into  operation  a  very  simple 
principle,  and  that  principle  is,  that  the  greater  the  quantity  of 
an  article  turned  out,  the  less  is  the  comparative  cost.  Thus,  if 
fifty  thousand  axes  are  made  at  the  expense  of  ten  or  twenty 
per  cent,  for  plant  and  management,  an  out-turn  of  one  hundred 
thousand  axes  from  the  same  establishment  may  be  secured  for 
very  little  extra  cost.  In  the  first  case  the  cost  of  an  ax,  as  re- 
gards these  items,  is,  say  twenty-five  cents  each,  while  in  the 
other  case  it  might  be  only  fifteen  cents.  Here,  then,  we  find 
a  saving  of,  say  ten  thousand  dollars,  by  reason  of  the  increased 
output.  As  competition  increases  and  profits  decrease,  manu- 
facturers are  constantly  turning  out  more  axes  from  the  same 


UNWISE  LAWS.  25 

plant.  In  time,  then,  by  reason  of  increased  plant  and  improved 
facilities  of  old  plant,  the  supply  of  axes  becomes  very  much 
greater  than  the  demand,  and,  the  market  being  glutted,  stag- 
nation follows,  and  then  collapse. 

The  same  thing  applies  to  all  the  manufactures  of  iron.  V\^- 
iron  goes  up  to  $40  a  ton  and  in  two  years  is  down  to  $18. 
Locomotive  engines  go  up  to  $15,000  to  $25,000  and  speedily 
fall  to  $8,000  or  $10,000,  or  even  less.  Iron,  in  all  its  forms, 
shows  the  same  fluctuations.  Protected  behind  a  lofty  artificial 
barrier,  the  manufacturers  are  enabled  to  make  such  enormous 
fortunes  when  prices  are  high  they  vastly  increase  their  manu- 
facturing facilities,  and  thousands  of  others  rush  in  to  share  the 
golden  harvests  and  add  still  other  establishments,  till  finally  the 
land  is  literally  flooded  with  all  kinds  of  iron  goods  and  wares, 
when  stagnation  follows  and  prostration  ensues.  -  The  capacity 
of  steam  and  machinery  to  produce  far  excels  the  capacity  of 
man  to  consume,  to  waste,  and  to  destroy. 

And  why  speak  of  wool  and  its  manufactures  ?  for  they  re- 
peat the  same  story.  Only  it  is  interesting  to  compare  the 
independent,  nay  insolent,  manner  of  the  woollen  manufacturers 
and  their  agents  in  1S79-81,  when  the  high  tariff  behind 
which  they  were  entrenched  enabled  them  to  command  buyers, 
and  their  meek  demeanor  in  1884-5,  when,  in  consequence  of 
over-production,  the  buyers  were  enabled  to  pay  them  back  in 
their  own  currency.  On  the  woollen  trade  is  stamped  insta- 
bility in  most  legible  characters.  The  same  fact  holds  true  of 
every  protected  article,  and  copper,  cloths  of  all  kinds,  glass, 
crockery,  etc.,  all  proclaim  through  their  extreme  fluctuations 
that  the  extreme  of  exuberant  prosperity  begets  its  opposite  ex- 
treme of  excessive  prostration  ;  all  might  exclaim — Protection, 
thou  art  the  parent  of  Instability.  Extremes  are  always  in- 
jurious, for  the  extreme  of  prosperity  begets  extravagance, 
wastefulness,  dissipation,  and  idleness,  and  the  extreme  of 
depression  begets  want,  hunger,  disease,  and  despair. 

The  writer  would   fain   depict  the  feverish  state  of  affairs 


26  UNWISE  LAWS. 

leading  to  a  crisis  and  the  subsequent  collapse,  both  insepara- 
ble from  the  protection  system,  but  it  requires  a  more  facile 
pen  than  his  to  do  the  subject  even  faint  justice.  He  would 
fain  describe  how  manufacturers  of  every  description  stretched 
every  nerve  and  bent  all  the  powers  of  shrewd  intellect  to  turn 
out  goods  ;  how  they  availed  themselves  of  every  invention  ;  and 
how  they  extended,  by  means  of  electric  lights,  the  day  far  into 
the  night,  so  that  they  may  turn  more  goods  into  the  channels 
of  trade  ;  how  in  order  to  build  more  factories  to  produce,  and 
more  v/arehouses  to  hold,  they  stimulated  the  mason,  the  car- 
penter, and  the  painter,  the  tinner,  the  plumber,  and  the  gas- 
fitter  ;  how  they  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  mine  and  the  quarry, 
of  the  furnaces,  the  mills,  and  the  machine-shops  ;  how  they 
called  into  requisition  more  railroads  and  more  rolling  stock 
on  the  roads  ; — how,  in  fine,  all  these  vast  manufacturing  inter- 
ests united  to  form  a  rushing,  headlong  torrent  ;  he  would  fain 
depict  the  current  of  population  setting  from  all  sides  and  from 
foreign  shores  toward  the  manufacturing  centres  where  work  is 
plenty  and  wages  high  ;  the  centres  filled  with  eager,  stirring 
shopkeepers,  and  the  numberless  purveyors  to  the  thousand 
wants  of  men,  including  lawyers,  doctors,  actors,  etc.,  all  hast- 
ing to  be  rich,  and  all  spending  lavishly  and  freely  ;  the  osten- 
tation and  display  of  the  rich,  and  the  emulation  of  those  desiring 
to  be  thought  rich.  It  is  indeed  vain  to  attempt  any  descrip- 
tion of  the  hurry,  the  excitement,  the  speculation,  the  extrav- 
agance of  such  a  period,  where  all  seems  to  be  prosperous,  and 
where  all  think  they  are  rich  and  spend  as  if  they  were,  but  we 
all  know  what  it  is,  for  it  has  all  passed  before  our  eyes  twice 
in  the  past  twelve  years. 

The  crisis  has  arrived,  the  props  are  knocked  away,  but  in- 
stead of  the  vessel  gliding  gently  into  smooth  waters,  it  tumbles 
a  wreck  amidst  the  scaffold  that  upheld  it. 

People  are  now  called  upon  to  settle,  but  instead  of  payment 
bankruptcy  is  found  to  overspread  the  land,  for  it  is  now  dis- 
covered that  they  have  spent  in  wasteful  living,  not  only  what 


UNWISE  LA  WS.  27 

they  possessed  but  what  they  hoped  to  possess,  and  as  our  hopes 
are  always  largely  in  excess  of  our  realities,  the  obligations  of 
every  description,  from  those  of  a  state  to  a  village,  and  from 
a  railroad  to  a  peddler,  are  found  to  be  beyond  control. 

The  reverse  of  the  picture  of  this  feverish  speculative  period 
will  not  even  be  attempted,  for  the  stagnation  of  business,  the 
failure  of  employment,  and  the  universal  suffering  and  anxiety 
that  followed,  are  painfully  familiar  to  every  man. 

Stability,  wherein  profits  both  of  manufacturers  and  merchants 
are  moderate  but  uniform,  wherein  wages  are  low  but  steady, 
where  people  must  practise  sobriety  and  economy,  and  where 
consequently  they  get  rich  slowly,  is  surely  greatly  preferable  to 
instability,  wherein  for  some  years  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants are  crowded  with  business  and  overwhelmed  with 
riches,  and  are  therefore  made  wasteful,  extravagant  and  spec- 
ulative, to  be  followed  by  a  longer  period  of  ruin  and  despond- 
ency ;  wherein  the  mechanic,  and  laborer,  and  employe  of 
every  description  obtain  for  a  few  years  high  wages  and  are 
also  made  wasteful  and  discontented,  to  be  followed  by  large 
decrease  of  wages  and  by  curtail  of  work,  and  in  thousands  of 
instances  by  entire  loss  of  work.  Protection  necessarily  and 
inevitably  causes  this  instability  and  all  its  attendant  train  of 
evils,  and  although  the  community  recovers  from  these  de- 
pressions and  mounts  again  to  the  lofty  heights  from  which  it 
was  hurled,  it  only  mounts  to  be  again  cast  down.  The  high 
wall  of  protection  which  surrounds  us  offers,  by  shutting  out  for- 
eign competition,  such  enormous  profits  to  manufacturers  they 
rush  in,  as  we  have  seen,  to  reap  the  harvest.  They  then  over- 
do the  matter,  and  ruin  follows.  But  after  years  of  suffering 
and  enforced  economy  we  gradually  recover,  only  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  same  whirl  and  hurry  already  spoken  of.  And 
so  it  goes,  ad  infinitum,  no  man  and  no  interest  knowing  what 
a  few  years  will  bring  forth,  for  although  wealthy  to-day,  the 
instability  produced  by  protection  may  make  us  paupers  to- 
morrow. 


28  UNWISE  LAWS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

HOW   PROTECTION     STIMULATES    AND   FINALLY    DEMORALIZES 
THE    WHOLE    COMMUNITY. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  manufacturers,  by  reason  of 
protection  creating  an  artificial  scarcity,  have  a  vastly  increased 
demand  thrown  upon  them,  and  of  course  they  raise  their 
prices  and  grow  wealthy  with  rapidity.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
cite  by  name  the  enormous  fortunes  of  many  manufacturers  of 
Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  Boston,  and  other  points,  for  this  fact 
is  patent  to  all.  Their  fast-growing  wealth  becomes  apparent 
to  the  least  discerning,  and  it  is  frequently  observed  that  the 
rough  ignorant  workman  of  to-day  becomes  the  wealthy  manu- 
facturer of  to-morrow.  Hence,  as  we  have  also  seen,  others 
hasten  to  join  the  ranks  of  the  manufacturers,  and  when  it  is 
found  that  new-comer  after  new-comer,  and  others  after  them 
too,  lay  up  for  themselves  great  treasures  upon  earth,  a  current, 
reaching  even  to  foreign  lands  of  employers  and  employed,  is 
set  up  towards  manufactures,  draining  thereby  the  quiet  but 
necessary  employment  of  agriculture,  in  which  they  had  been 
happily  engaged  before. 

Well,  in  time,  and  not  a  very  long  time  either,  a  large  body 
of  wealthy  manufacturers  overspreads  certain  sections  of  the 
country.  Many,  perhaps  most  of  them,  are  workmen  who 
have  risen  from  the  ranks,  and  have  neither  education  nor 
taste  for  the  refined  enjoyments  of  cultivated  society.  In 
England  there  is  some  method  of  honoring  great  success  in 
trade  or  manufactures  and  satisfying  our  natural  feeling  for 
distinction,  and  that  is  by  creating  barons  and  baronets,  but  in 
this  country  there  is  no  general  patent  of  nobility  except 
wealth.  But  wealth  concealed  or  wealth  unspent  brings  no 
honor  or  consideration  to  its  possessor.  To  excite  the  remark 
of  the  public  or  to  draw  attention  to  the  owner  wealth  must 
be  spent  freely,  lavishly,  and  ostentatiously.  The  men  them- 
selves who  have  acquired  the  wealth  do  not,  as  a  general  thing. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  29 

desire  to  indulge  in  display,  but  as  soon  as  daughters  grow  up 
the  mothers  desire  them  to  surpass  their  neighbors,  and  for 
that  purpose  they  buy  them  finer  clothes  and  give  them  other 
advantages  beyond  the  reach  of  their  poorer  neighbors,  and 
the  sons  follow  their  sisters,  though  at  a  distance,  for  it  takes 
them  longer  to  outgrow  the  simple  pleasures  of  boyish  games 
and  excursions  to  the  streams  and  woods.  But  after  a  while 
this  simple  preeminence  palls,  and  the  female  portion  of  the 
family  must  have  finer  houses  than  any  of  their  neighbors,  and 
they  must  be  furnished  in  the  finest  style  of  the  ui)holsterer's 
art  ;  they  must  have  carriages  to  ride  in,  and  for  clothing  they 
must  have  the  finest  fabrics  of  the  most  distant  climes,  and  for 
ornaments  the  mines  of  Brazil  and  South  Africa  are  ransacked 
for  gems  to  adorn  their  necks,  their  ears,  and  their  fingers. 
The  male  portion  of  the  family  has  by  this  time  fully  caught 
up  with  the  passion  for  disjjlay,  and  they  must  have  their  sad- 
dle-horses, their  city-made  clothing  if  they  live  in  town,  and 
their  London-made  clothes  if  they  live  in  New  York  or  Bos- 
ton. Fast  women,  actresses,  race-courses,  and  faro-banks  fol- 
low, and  the  whole  family  is  thus  indulging  in  wastefulness 
and  extravagance,  each  after  his  kind. 

At  first  a  trip  to  the  city  was  considered  a  badge  of  superi- 
ority, and  when  one  returned  from  such  a  trip  he  was  an  oracle 
among  his  more  simple  neighbors,  and  the  tales  he  had  to  tell 
of  the  wonders  and  the  pleasures  of  the  city  were  listened  to 
with  undisguised  admiration.  But  as  facilities  for  transporta- 
tion increased,  this  simple  means  of  superiority  was  shared  in 
by  others,  and  its  charm  departed.  Then  those  seeking  social 
distinction  betook  themselves  to  Europe,  and  when  they  re- 
turned they  were  received  by  their  neighbors  with  still  greater 
admiration,  and  for  a  time  they  were  authority  on  all  matters 
of  taste  and  fashion.  But  the  multiplication  of  steamships  in 
time  destroyed  this  mode  of  distinction  also,  and  as  a  last  re- 
sort of  surpassing  their  neighbors,  luxurious  residences  abroad 
as  well  as  palatial  residences  at  home  were  resorted  to.     As 


30  UNWISE  LAWS. 

for  yachts  and  other  effective  modes  of  spending  money,  they 
became  so  common  that  I  knew  of  one  manufacturer,  who 
makes  only  the  small  article  of  gentlemen's  linen  collars,  who 
had  a  yacht  of  his  own,  as  well  as  those  most  favored  of  all  our 
citizens — the  carpet  and  iron  manufacturers. 

Of  course  the  example  of  so  large  and  wealthy  a  portion  of 
society  had  its  effect  upon  the  rest  of  the  community,  for  no 
woman,  in  however  straitened  circumstances,  will  rest  quietly 
when  she  sees  herself — but  especially  hef  daughters — outshone 
by  those  who  but  a  few  years  before  were  perhaps  looked  down 
upon  because  not  in  her  set  ;  consequently  all  followed  as  best 
they  could  the  example  set  before  them,  and  each  emulated 
his  neighbor  in  expensive  and  ostentatious  living.  Fine  houses 
began  to  make  their  appearance,  and  before  long  the  example 
of  Augustus  in  finding  Rome  a  city  of  brick  and  leaving  it  a 
city  of  marble,  seemed  to  be  universally  followed,  and  the 
plain,  comfortable  houses  of  the  fathers  were  everywhere  su- 
perseded by  dwellings  in  the  designing  of  which  expensive 
architects  had  been  employed.  These  fine  dwellings  were  not 
confined  to  the  rich,  but  those  who  desired  to  be  thought  rich 
followed  their  example,  and  not  only  spent  all  their  money  for 
the  pleasure  of  living  in  a  high-gabled  house  surmounted  by  a 
turret,  but  mortgaged  the  house  in  addition.  Palaces  alone 
would  suit  leading  citizens  in  the  chief  cities,  but  to  show  on 
how  little  foundation  many  of  these  splendid  residences  were 
based,  one  has  only  to  refer  to  a  Villard,  who  spent  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars  on  a  dwelling,  and  then  through  bank- 
ruptcy had  to  leave  it  uncompleted,  and  the  kindred  example 
of  a  Seney  who  filled  his  home  with  paintings  and  objects  of 
art  to  the  value  of  half  a  million,  only  to  have  them  dispersed 
under  the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer. 

In  time  the  example  of  the  manufacturers  overspread  the 
whole  land,  and  the  whole  land  exhibited  the  spectacle  of  a 
whole  people  living  beyond  their  means  and  spending  more 
than  their  earnings.     But  an  exception  must  be  made  in  favor 


UNWISE  LAWS.  31 

of  the  South,  for  however  inclined  it  might  be  to  follow  their 
brethren  of  the  East  or  the  West  or  the  Middle  States,  it  was 
kept  so  poor  by  reason  of  its  compulsory  contributions,  under 
the  guise  of  '*  Be  it  enacted,"  to  the  manufacturing  interests  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  East,  it  had  nothing  to  spend,  and  it  was 
only  by  reason  of  its  genial  sun,  which  in  great  measure  served 
it  for  shelter  and  clothing,  that  it  was  enabled  to  exist  at  all. 
The  South  was  the  Cinderella  in  her  father's  house,  confined 
to  the  ashes  and  the  sweat  of  the  kitchen,  while  the  other  por- 
tions of  the  country  rejoiced  in  the  comforts  of  the  parlor  and 
the  upper  chambers  and  in  the  brilliancy  of  the  ball-room. 

During  this  great  increase  of  manufacturing,  the  growth  of 
certain  towns  and  cities,  and  even  of  whole  States,  was  very 
great,  for  mills  and  factories  could  not  rise  like  an  exhalation, 
as  did  the  Palace  of  Pandemonium,  but  had  to  be  built  brick 
by  brick,  and  to  do  this  great  numbers  of  mechanics  and 
laborers  were  drawn  thereto,  and  the  subsidiary  army  that  is 
required  to  supply  a  community  was  also  greatly  increased. 
And  all  those  who  before  had  been  leading  quiet  lives  on  the 
farm  or  in  the  villages,  were  soon  found  emulating  their  em- 
ployers and  living  in  a  style  proportioned  to  their  wishes  rather 
than  to  their  wages.  For  the  moment  we  will  leave  the  manu- 
facturers and  their  employes  and  dependents  and  their  imita- 
tors, who  were  emulating  Babylon  or  Great  Alcairo  in  their 
wealth  and  luxury,  and  will  proceed  a  step  further  in  showing 
how  protection  demoralizes  the  community. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  accumulations  of  wealth  became  so 
large  that  their  possessors  must  seek  some  method  of  employ- 
ing it  profitably.  In  addition  thereto,  amidst  the  feverish 
extravagant  crowd  that  thronged  them  on  every  side,  there 
were  many  prudent  operatives,  who  lived  economically  and  who 
laid  up  immense  sums  in  the  aggregate  in  the  savings  banks. 
Here  then  was  a  grand  total  of  many  millions  of  dollars  anx- 
iously seeking  profitable  employment,  and  here  was  an  oppor- 
tunity of  setting  afoot  schemes  and  speculations  of  all  kinds. 


32  UNWISE  LAWS. 

Wherever  there  is  a  carcass  there  the  vultures  are  sure  to  come. 
And  so  it  was  in  this  case.  Promoters  and  projectors  of  all 
sorts  of  schemes,  from  a  company  to  supply  a  patent  churn  to 
a  company  to  build  an  Erie  Railroad,  sprung  up  on  every  side. 
While  many  of  these  companies  were  as  unsubstantial  as  the 
baseless  fabric  of  a  dream,  many  of  them  were  well  founded,  and 
made  money  for  their  projectors.  The  failures  were  of  course 
hushed  up  and  smothered,  but  the  successes  were  heralded 
abroad  and  dwelt  upon  with  so  much  skill  that  the  public  rushed 
into  all  sorts  of  schemes  with  an  eagerness  similar  to  insanity, 
so  that  by  1883  the  people  had  invested,  according  to  Poor's 
Railroad Afanualiox  1884,  a  total  of  $6,746,579,000  in  railroads 
alone.  This  of  course  was  a  sum  vastly  in  excess  of  the  ability 
of  the  country  to  stand,  and  it  was  done  only  at  the  expense 
of  a  vast  amount  of  debt,  which  represented  a  very  doubtful 
value.  Millions  and  hundreds  of  millions  were  held  simply  on 
a  margin,  and  vast  numbers  of  the  population  became  nothing 
less  than  speculators,  who  daily  watched  stock  quotations  to 
learn  whether  they  had  made  a  fortune  or  had  become  bank- 
rupt. The  people  were  now  largely  demoralized,  but  to  com- 
plete their  demoralization  there  sprung  up  swarms  of  brokers, 
who,  at  first  confined  to  the  large  cities,  finally  infested  every 
town  and  village  in  the  land.  They  not  only  afforded  the 
public  every  facility  to  speculate  through  means  of  telegraphs 
and  telephones,  with  their  hourly  or  less  quotations,  but  they 
went  abroad  like  drummers,  and  by  fair  representations  induced 
not  only  merchants  but  their  clerks  to  speculate  ;  and  not  only 
merchants,  but  also  simple  farmers  ;  and  not  only  men,  but  wo- 
men too.  But  of  all  schemes  of  speculation  the  most  dangerous 
and  most  demoralizing  was  the  invention  of  buying  and  selling 
on  margin,  for  that  was  like  the  hunter's  trap  which  caught  the 
coon  when  he  was  a-coming,  or  when  he  was  a-going,  or  even 
when  he  was  a-standing  still.  If  they  speculated  in  margins 
they  were  bound  to  lose  if  they  sold  or  if  they  bought,  but 
there  was  the  broker  getting  his  commissions  whichever  way 
the  market  went. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  33 

For  years  stocks  and  bonds  held  the  preeminence,  for  other 
modes  of  speculating  were  unheard  of.  But  presently  the 
people  demanded  other  methods  of  speculation  and  excite- 
ment, or  rather  other  articles  to  gamble  in,  and  so  the  margin 
business  extended  to  cotton,  petroleum,  grain,  meat,  etc.,  etc., 
and  so  great  became  the  mania  for  excitement  that  many  were 
not  satisfied  with  speculating  in  one  article,  but  they  must  in 
turn  take  up  other  articles,  and  frequently  all  at  the  same  time. 
The  whole  community  seemed  to  be  turned  into  gamblers,  and 
six  hours  every  day  was  too  short  a  time  to  satisfy  their  crav- 
ings, but  they  must  turn  afternoon  and  evenings  into  arenas  for 
continuing  the  absorbing  game. 

Again,  the  transactions  between  man  and  man  having  greatly 
increased  there  was  an  increased  need  for  more  lawyers,  and 
these  worthy  gentry  responded  quickly  to  the  demand.  While 
there  was  an  increased  demand  for  those  who  make  it  their  busi- 
ness to  set  men  by  the  ears  as  well  as  to  compose  their  differences, 
to  prevent  frauds  and  at  the  same  time  to  assist  rogues  of  all 
degrees  to  consummate  frauds,  for  the  bigger  the  fraud  the 
smarter  the  lawyer  to  be  found  at  the  bottom  of  it,  there  was 
at  the  same  time  an  increased  demand  for  those  other  profes- 
sions which  administer  to  our  pleasures,  or  which  alleviate  the 
pains  of  the  body  and  the  sorrows  of  the  mind  ;  consequently 
actors,  artists,  and  architects,  clergymen,  journalists,  and  phy- 
sicians, etc.,  increased  in  a  ratio  greatly  in  excess  of  the  increase 
of  population.  The  country  was  now  honeycombed  with  specu- 
lation from  head  to  foot,  and  even  the  clergy  and  women  were 
not  uninfected.  There  was  one  mad  race  for  wealth  without 
work.  And  what  did  all  this  mad  excitement  mean,  but  that 
people  were  neglecting  labor  to  inspect  the  tickers  and  tele- 
graphic quotations  that  were  strewed  thickly  over  the  land, 
what  did  it  mean  but  that  people  were  living  fast  and  wasting 
money  like  spendthrifts, — in  fme,  it  meant  that  people  were 
rapidly  consuming  the  accumulated  wealth  of  the  country  and 
were  rapidly  reducing  themselves  to  poverty.     It  meant  that 


34  UNWISE  LAWS. 

people  had  left  the  country  to  come  to  the  town,  and  that  con- 
sequently less  food  was  made  from  year  to  year,  and  that 
there  were  more  mouths  from  year  to  year  to  eat  the  decreased 
amount  produced.  It  meant  national  and  individual  poverty, 
and  it  meant  the  distress  and  stagnation  we  have  been  suffering 
from  for  years.  And  it  means  a  continual  occurrence  of  these 
sad  and  hard  times  after  a  short  rally  for  as  long  a  period 
as  laws,  erroneously  termed  protective,  interfere  with  the 
liberty  of  the  citizens  to  trade  when  it  seems  most  to  his  ad- 
vantage. 

But  the  most  demoralizing  effect  of  protection  is  the  lower- 
ing of  the  moral  standard  of  the  people.  When  people  see 
that  "  Be  it  enacted  "  makes  the  fortune  of  thousands  of  manu- 
facturers of  iron,  of  wood,  of  cotton,  of  glass,  etc.,  they  learn 
that  one  set  of  citizens  has  by  virtue  of  legislation  taken 
advantage  of  the  majority  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  they 
think  to  themselves  if  it  is  right  to  do  this  it  is  not  wrong  to 
take  advantage  of  each  other  for  the  purpose  of  making 
money.  Hence  they  become  more  concerned  to  make  money 
than  they  are  for  the  methods  they  employ  :  therefore  the 
lowering  of  commercial  morals  constantly  witnessed,  and  the 
frauds  daily  perpetrated  ;  therefore  the  frequent  failures  in 
which  preferences  are  made  in  favor  of  persons  who  are  not 
bona-fide  creditors,  and  the  compromises  forced  by  a  false 
display  of  assets. 

Moreover,  to  obtain  money  to  indulge  in  speculation  which 
protection  has  promoted,  the  clerk  robs  his  employer,  the  agent 
his  principal,  the  treasurer  his  company,  and  the  cashier  or 
president  his  bank.  And  as  discovery  follows,  the  jails  are 
filled  with  criminals,  the  graves  with  suicides,  and  Canada 
with  refugees. 

Thus  it  is  that  protection  first  stimulates  and  then  demoral- 
izes the  whole  community. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  35 

CHAPTER  VI. 

HOW    PROTECTION    RUINS    THE    MERCANTILE    BUSINESS. 

In  the  natural  state  of  affairs,  where  people  are  left  at  liberty 
to  follow  their  occupations  in  manner  most  profitable  and 
agreeable  to  themselves,  there  cannot  for  any  length  of  time 
be  too  many  engaged  in  any  particular  calling.  There  cannot 
be  too  many  farmers,  too  many  mechanics,  too  many  manufac- 
turers, or  too  many  merchants.  There  cannot  be  too  many 
living  in  the  country,  or  too  many  living  in  the  towns.  For  in 
this  country,  where  people  are  free  to  change  their  residences 
and  employments  according  as  interest  or  inclination  dictates, 
and  where  the  facilities  and  cheapness  of  transportation  make 
it  as  easy  now  to  transfer  one's  home  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  seaboard  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago  to  move  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  miles  ;  if  persons  find  one  employment  or  one  lo- 
cality overcrowded,  they  will  soon  leave  that  employment  or 
remove  from  that  locality  to  some  other  point  where  labor  is 
better  paid  or  profits  are  better.  We  see  this  fact  so  con- 
stantly illustrated,  that  it  is  almost  puerile  to  note  the  rapid 
transfer  of  population  to  the  West,  where  land  is  cheap  and 
fertile,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  equally  rapid  drift  to  manu- 
facturing centres  under  the  operation  of  the  partial  and  re- 
strictive laws  under  which  we  live. 

Well,  these  influences  of  demand  and  supply  affect  the  call- 
ing of  the  merchant  and  the  trader,  as  well  as  of  others. 
Under  a  natural  order  of  affairs  there  will  be  no  more  mer- 
chants than  are  necessary  for  the  economical  distribution  of 
merchandise,  or  if  there  should  be  too  many  merchants,  the 
more  indifferent  of  the  class  would  soon  be  closed  out  by  rea- 
son of  the  destructive  competition  of  the  abler  and  shrewder ; 
or  if  there  should  be  too  few  merchants,  their  profits  would  be 
so  large  as  to  induce  their  clerks,  or  others,  to  set  up  for  them- 
selves, and  thus  to  restore  the  ecjuilibrium  between  demand 
and  supply.     But  in  the  artificial  state  of  affairs  produced  by 


36  UNWISE  LAWS. 

protection,  we  find  that  manufactures  have  been  vastly  stunu- 
lated,  and  that  great  cities  have  been  created  by  the  erection 
of  new  factories  and  mills,  and  by  the  assemblage  of  workmen 
and  their  families  to  operate  them. 

Of  course,  then,  more  merchants  are  required  for  the  distri- 
bution of  the  enormously  increased  product  of  these  new 
manufacturing  establishments,  for  the  furnishing  of  the  vast 
stores  of  building  materials  and  machinery  used  in  the  erection 
of  new  factories,  of  warehouses  for  the  storing  of  increased 
stocks  of  goods  of  all  descriptions,  and  of  dwellings  for  the  in- 
creased population.  More  merchants  are  required  for  handling 
the  supplies  used  in  the  building  of  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  miles  of  railroad,  and  for  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  miles  of  telegraph  ;  and,  finally,  more  merchants  are  re- 
quired for  supplying  the  numberless  personal  and  family  needs 
of  masters,  employes,  and  dependants  of  the  numberless 
throng  of  people  crowding  the  manufacturing  centres.  The 
mercantile  community  thus  feels  at  an  early  date  the  stimula- 
ting effects  of  protection,  first  felt,  of  course  by  the  manufac- 
turers, and  their  numbers  are  greatly  increased. 

The  earlier  merchants,  like  Clafiin,  Stewart,  and  many 
others  that  might  be  mentioned,  make  enormous  fortunes,  and 
the  body  of  merchants  generally  prosper.  The  merchants, 
therefore,  increase  largely,  for  profits  are  large,  fortunes  are 
rapidly  made,  and  a  current  from  less  profitable  employments 
sets  steadily  and  strongly  towards  merchandizing.  The 
sprightly  farmer's  boy,  when  he  goes  to  the  village  and  town, 
sees  the  apparently  easy  life  the  merchant  is  leading,  how 
his  work  is  done  in  a  nice  warm  store,  how  well  dressed  he 
and  his  clerks  are,  and  the  pleasant  social  evenings  they  have 
after  the  day's  work  is  done,  and  when  he  compares  all  this 
pleasant  life  with  the  hard  life  he  is  compelled  to  lead,  being 
obliged  to  get  up  before  day,  on  cold  winter  mornings,  and  go  to 
the  stable  to  feed  horses,  or  milk  cows,  and  to  be  constantly 
exposed  to  the  driving  rain,  the  blinding  snow,  or  the  fierce 


UNWISE  LAWS.  37 

blizzards  from  the  northwest,  or  to  follow  the  plow  from  morn- 
ing to  night  under  a  scorching  summer's  sun,  and  when  night 
has  come,  and  work  is  over,  to  have  no  pleasant  place  to  resort 
to,  and  no  cheerful  company  to  associate  with, — when  he  com- 
pares the  two  modes  of  life,  no  wonder  he  becomes  dissatisfied 
with  life  on  a  farm  and  resolves  to  go  to  the  city.  He  soon 
bids  adieu  to  the  plow  and  the  hoe,  and  hastens  to  the  cross- 
roads, the  village,  or  the  town,  to  exchange  them  for  the  yard- 
stick, and  the  quart  and  gallon  measure. 

The  mechanic,  also,  is  attracted  by  the  easy  life  the  store- 
keeper leads,  and  he  resolves  to  exchange  the  ten  hours' 
steady  labor  with  saw  and  plane,  or  with  trowel,  for  the  light 
work  behind  the  counter,  and  the  machinist  likewise  deter- 
mines to  exchange  the  grime  and  the  soot  of  the  shop  for 
the  clean  hands  and  clean  face  of  the  merchant.  The 
professions  also  gravitate  towards  merchandise,  the  lawyer, 
the  doctor,  the  clergyman,  the  artist,  and  others  being  dis- 
couraged by  their  slow  progress  in  the  earlier  stages  of  their 
career,  for  while  they  are  starving,  waiting  for  business,  they 
see  the  merchant  growing  wealthy  by  the  simple  process  of 
buying  to-day  and  selling  to-morrow.  The  ranks  of  the  mer- 
chants are  thus  greatly  reinforced  from  every  calling  and  every 
occupation,  and  in  course  of  time  they  necessarily  become 
greatly  overcrowded,  for  when  a  current  once  sets  strongly  in 
any  direction,  it  does  not  stop  when  the  vacuum  is  filled,  but 
continues  to  flow  in  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  those 
behind. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  a  point  where  there  is  a  super- 
abundance of  merchants  and  traders.  And  what  is  the  conse- 
quence ?  There  being  more  merchants  than  there  are  goods 
to  distribute,  there  is  less  business  for  each  to  do,  and  as  about 
this  time  the  stimulating  effects  of  protection  have  caused  an 
overproduction  of  goods,  there  is  a  decline  of  prices,  and  con- 
sequently the  moneyed  value  of  each  one's  share  is  still 
further  diminished.     The  business  of   many  merchants  now 


38  UNWISE  LAWS. 

begins  to  decline,  but  to  maintain  its  volume  they  resort  to  the 
simple  and  obvious  plan  of  reducing  prices,  but  as  reduction 
by  one  is  speedily  followed  by  others,  this  remedy  soon  fails. 
The  next  most  obvious  resource  is  to  anticipate  the  trade,  and 
instead  of  waiting  for  the  trade  to  come  to  them,  is  for  them  to 
go  to  the  trade.  The  most  enterprising  merchants  begin  to 
send  out  drummers,  and  as  the  first  in  this  field  are  very  suc- 
cessful, others  soon  follow,  and  thus  is  established  the  drum- 
ming system,  the  most  expensive,  extravagant,  and  wasteful 
method  of  doing  business  ever  followed.  For  this  system  is  not 
only  followed  by  the  large  wholesale  dealers  in  the  large  cities, 
but  every  town  has  its  large  corps  of  drummers  in  every  line, 
and  every  village,  too,  aspires  to  do  something  in  this  way,  so 
that  the  sleepers  are  monopolized  by  drummers,  and  the  hotels 
and  taverns  over  the  whole  land  are  supported  by  drummers, 
and  livery  teams  at  every  railroad  station  are  kept  alive  by 
drummers,  and  all  at  the  expense  of  the  profits  of  the  mer- 
chant, for  competition  will  not  allow  the  cost  to  be  added  to 
the  goods,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  goods  are  sold  cheaper 
by  the  drummer  than  by  the  proprietor  at  home.  The  drummer 
also  is  the  dispenser  of  credit,  and  as  he  is  substantially  paid  a 
commission,  he  grants  credit  freely,  and  as  he  is  migratory  and 
is  not  apt  to  remain  long  with  one  house,  he  grants  credit  reck- 
lessly, and  the  merchant  has  to  bear  a  greater  portion  of  bad 
debts  than  before  the  drumming  system  was  established.  And 
the  retailers  have  imitated  the  wholesalers,  for  in  every  town  or 
city  one  may  see  A's  or  B's  wagon  traversing  the  streets,  not 
only  delivering  what  has  been  sold,  but  stopping  at  private 
houses  in  order  to  sell  more. 

Another  serious  evil  introduced  into  the  mercantile  calling, 
due  also  to  the  competition  born  of  the  demoralizing  influence 
of  a  protective  tariff,  is  the  practice  erroneously  termed 
"  dating  bills  ahead."  If  bills  were  really  dated  ahead,  that  is 
to  say,  before  the  date  of  purchase,  the  practice  would  be 
highly  beneficial,  for  it  would  have  the  effect  of  curtailing  the 


u.virisE  LA  Ji's.  39 

length  of  credit,  short  credit  being  always  conducive  to  the 
soundness  of  trade,  but  as  the  bills  are  in  many  instances 
dated  several  months  subsequent  to  the  date  of  purchase,  the 
phrase  is  altogether  misleading. 

And  the  practice  arose  simply  because  there  were  too  many 
engaged  in  distributing  goods.  For  instance,  a  house  would 
send  out  its  drummers  ahead  of  the  season,  but  because  it  v/as 
ahead  of  the  season  nobody  desired  to  buy,  so  the  drummer 
must  offer  some  inducement.  There  is  no  room  for  lower 
prices,  because  competition  had  already  cut  down  profits  to 
the  lowest  point,  so  he  says,  "  If  you  will  buy  now  "  (say  it  is 
January^  "  I  will  date  your  bill  March  ist,"  or,  if  it  is  May,  "  I 
will  date  August  ist."  This  inducement  operates,  and  many 
drummers,  finding  themselves  by  this  device  cut  out  of  bills 
they  expected  to  sell,  determine  not  to  be  forestalled  again,  so 
the  next  season  they  offer  to  date  March  15th  or  April  ist,  and 
the  subsequent  season  other  drummers  date  April  15th  or  May 
ist,  and  the  practice  of  "  dating  bills  ahead  "  becomes  a  regular 
feature  of  business.  And  not  only  are  bills  dated  later,  but 
the  drummers  start  out  earlier,  so  that  many  goods  sold  in  De- 
cember date  May  ist,  and  goods  sold  in  May  date  October  ist, 
subject  at  these  dates  to  a  discount  of  seven  per  cent,  for  cash 
in  ten  days.  Is  it  any  surprise,  then,  that  profits  are  small  or 
m7,  or  that  many  become  bankrupt  actually  before  their  bills 
begin  to  date  ? 

Thus  it  is  that  merchandizing,  at  first  stimulated  to  excess  by 
protection,  is  finally  wrecked  by  competition  within  its  own 
bosom.  And  the  mercantile  career,  instead  of  yielding  a 
moderate  profit  to  those  who  follow  it,  is  beset  by  troubles  and 
difficulties  and  dangers  of  so  grave  and  harassing  a  character 
that  tens  of  thousands  are  annually  stranded  on  the  shores  of 
bankruptcy,  with  all  of  its  attendant  circumstances  of  want  and 
woe,  of  crime  and  corruption. 


40  UNWISE  LAWS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

HOW  PROTECTION  CAUSES  NATIONAL  IMPOVERISHMENT  BY  ARTI- 
FICIALLY AFFECTING  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POPULATION. 

What  is  wealth  ?  There  is  no  absolute  definition  of  wealth, 
it  being  strictly  a  relative  term  like  happiness  or  wretchedness, 
heat  or  cold,  but  in  general  terms  wealth  may  be  described  as 
composing  all  those  things,  whether  the  free  gift  of  nature  like 
a  warm  sun  or  a  salubrious  atmosphere,  or  whether  the  work 
of  men's  hands,  which  administer  to  the  health,  comfort,  hap- 
piness, or  pleasure  of  mankind.  But  then  what  is  wealth  in 
one  latitude  is  of  no  value  in  another.  Thus  coal,  which  for 
purposes  of  creating  warmth  is  valueless  in  the  South,  is  a 
large  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  North,  Avhere  it  is  essential  to 
the  very  existence  of  the  population.  Thus,  again,  rice,  which 
is  the  principal  food  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  human  beings 
in  Southern  countries,  and  is  therefore  their  principal  source 
of  wealth,  is  utterly  valueless  in  the  extreme  north  where  the 
people  require  the  grossest  fats  and  oil  in  order  to  maintain  life. 
Thus  while  the  plough  is  wealth  to  the  farmer,  because  it  is 
his  main  implement  for  making  his  crops,  it  is  utterly  valueless 
to  the  fisherman,  who  avails  himself  of  the  hook  and  the  net 
for  procuring  his  subsistence.  Thus,  again,  while  one  or  two 
ploughs  may  be  highly  valuable  to  the  farmer  and  indeed  abso- 
lutely essential  for  him,  a  hundred  ploughs,  if  he  could  not 
dispose  of  them,  would  be  a  burden  to  him,  for  he  would  be  at 
the  expense  of  taking  care  of  them.  We  now  see  that  wealth 
is  an  exceedingly  relative  term,  and  that  for  any  thing  to  con- 
stitute wealth  it  must  not  only  be  suitable  to  the  service  of  the 
person,  but  also  must  be  in  due  proportion  to  his  necessities 
or  desires.  Thus  the  warehouses  may  be  burdened  with 
tons  of  pig-iron,  with  bales  of  cloth,  with  casks  of  hardware, 
with  crates  of  crockery,  and  with  the  numberless  other  produc- 
tions of  the  loom,  the  forge,  and  the  lathe,  and  yet  they  may 
be  almost  valueless  for  want  of  a  market,  having  been  pro- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  41 

duced  greatly  in  excess  of  the  capacity  of  the  population  to 
consume.  This  fact  is  shown  by  the  manufacturers  of  whiskey, 
who  distilled  far  in  excess  of  demand,  and  who  in  order  to  save 
themselves  from  embarrassment  because  they  possessed  so 
much  whiskey,  have  for  years  been  besieging  Congress  for 
relief  ;  in  other  words,  to  make  the  whole  people  bear  the 
distillers'  burden. 

Then  we  may  define  wealth  as  all  those  things  that  admin- 
ister to  the  welfare,  happiness,  and  pleasure  of  mankind  when 
they  exist  in  due  proportion  to  each  other. 

When  affairs  go  on  in  their  usual  order,  uninterrupted  by  the 
wisdom  which  man  in  a  legislative  capacity  is  supposed  to 
possess  in  a  superior  degree,  there  will  never  for  any  great 
length  of  time  be  a  superabundance  of  any  one  article,  nor  on 
the  other  hand  will  there  be  a  scarcity  of  any  article.  For 
when  excess  prevails,  price  falls  and  profits  become  so  small,  or 
are  even  changed  into  a  loss,  the  production  of  any  article  is 
curtailed  or  ceases  altogether,  and  the  equilibrium  between 
supply  and  demand  becomes  restored.  And  when  there  is 
scarcity  of  any  article,  price  rises  and  profits  become  so  great 
others  engage  in  its  production  and  the  supply  becomes 
increased  and  equilibrium  is  again  reestablished.  There  is  thus 
perpetual  instability  in  supply  and  demand,  but  there  are  at  the 
same  time  stable  forces  in  operation  which  as  perpetually  restore 
the  equilibrium.  This  is  the  case  when  nature  prevails.  The 
forces  of  nature  assisted  by  the  labor  of  man  are  eternally 
creating  wealth  in  excess  of  his  wants,  and  the  intelligence 
of  man  is  as  eternally  devising  schemes  by  which  the  surplus 
of  one  latitude  may  be  transported  to  supply  the  necessities  of 
another  latitude. 

Any  interference,  therefore,  with  the  operations  of  the  laws  of 
nature  must  work  injury  and  produce  impoverishment  of  greater 
or  less  degree  according  to  the  extent  of  the  interference.  In  the 
natural  order  population,  especially  since  the  great  improve- 
ment in  transportation,  will  be  distributed  in  such  a  manner  as 


42  UNWISE  LAWS. 

will  conduce  to  the  greatest  results  from  the  smallest  efforts  ; 
therefore,  any  interference  with  distribution  of  population  will 
also  produce  impoverishment.  Now  let  us  see  how  protection 
interferes  with  the  natural  distribution  of  population,  and  what 
is  the  injury  or  impoverishment  thereby  caused. 

Nobody  will  deny  that  people,  if  left  to  themselves,  will  fol- 
low those  employments  that  pay  best,  or  that  if  all  pay  about 
equally  well  there  will  be  but  little  change  from  one  to  another. 
Nobody  will  deny  that  in  the  long  run  all  employments  pay 
about  equally  well  when  competition  has  free  play.  Some  kinds 
of  business  indeed  pay  larger  gross  profits  than  others,  but  in 
these  cases  expenses  are  always  greater  and  the  net  profits  are 
brought  down  to  a  level  with  those  kinds  of  business  that  pay 
smaller  gross  profits  but  with  smaller  expenses.  Hence,  natu- 
rally, there  is  little  change  of  employments  for  all  give  about  the 
same  returns.  In  this  case  everybody  is  doing  best  for  himself 
and  therefore  best  for  the  country.  In  any  natural  disturb- 
ance, such  as  a  failure  of  an  important  crop,  all  the  forces  set  to 
work  to  repair  the  damage  ;  price  goes  up,  consumption  is  re- 
duced, and  reduced  consumption  following  decreased  produc- 
tion the  injury  is  speedily  repaired.  Or,  if  the  injury  be  too 
great  to  be  repaired  by  decreased  consumption,  then  increased 
production  comes  into  play,  and  the  equilibrium  is  again  re- 
stored, though  after  a  longer  time. 

And  now  let  a  law  be  enacted,  which  at  one  blow  greatly 
reduces  the  supply  of  some  article  of  prime  importance,  say  a 
protective  law  that  prevents  this  said  article  from  being  im- 
ported from  abroad.  What  is  the  result  ?  For  convenience  of 
illustration  let  us  call  this  article  iron.  The  equilibrium  which 
we  have  seen  to  exist  before  the  operation  of  this  law  is  im- 
mediately destroyed,  and  an  economic  disturbance  is  at  once 
set  up.  The  manufacturers  of  all  kinds  of  iron,  from  the  crude 
pig  to  the  finest  specimen  of  the  cutler's  art,  have  an  increased 
demand  precipitated  upon  them  at  once.  They  must  have 
more  workmen,  and  in  order  to  attract  them  from  other  em- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  43 

ployments  they  must  offer  higher  wages,  for,  as  we  have  seen 
all  employments  prior  to  this  law  were  about  equally  profitable. 
The  higher  wages  soon  attract  attention,  and  a  current  begins 
towards  the  iron  industry.  The  demand  still  increases,  aided 
in  part  by  an  increase  of  population  and  by  an  influx  of  immi- 
gration, and  the  manufacturers  of  iron  must  have  more  work- 
men, and  as  they  have  by  the  first  increase  of  wages  attracted 
all  the  available  labor  in  their  neighborhood,  they  must  offer 
still  higher  wages  to  attract  those  at  a  greater  distance,  and  this 
goes  on  till  towns  are  built  up  and  large  bodies  of  people  are 
collected  together.  To  build  the  increased  number  of  furnaces 
mills,  warehouses,  and  buildings  for  workmen  a  large  force  of 
mechanics  and  laborers  is  required,  and  to  obtain  them  higher 
wages  must  be  offered,  and  thus  mechanics  and  laborers  are 
drawn  from  the  country  at  large.  And  then  to  supply  them 
others  still  are  required,  and  thus  merchants,  doctors,  and  law- 
yers, butchers,  bakers,  and  green-grocers,  etc.,  are  drawn  thither 
from  localities  where  they  had  previously  been  profitably  en- 
gaged. The  country  is  deserted,  the  town  is  filled.  Looking 
simply  at  the  newly  arisen  town  one  may  very  naturally  think 
it  must  be  a  very  good  law  which  produces  such  effects,  and 
if  what  one  saw  was  all,  none  could  deny  the  virtue  of  the  law. 
But  this  is- not  all  the  law.  To  obtain  this  city  the  country  has 
been  drained  of  its  cultivators,  so  that  less  food  is  produced, 
has  been  drained  of  its  mechanics,  its  blacksmiths,  its  carpenters, 
its  masons,  its  wheelwrights,  etc.,  so  that  when  the  farmer  needs 
his  reaper  to  be  repaired,  his  barn  to  be  shingled,  or  his  chim- 
ney to  be  restored,  he  finds  difficulty  in  getting  his  work  done, 
has  to  go  an  increased  distance  to  obtain  the  mechanic  re- 
quired, to  lose  more  time  in  going  and  returning,  and  has  in 
addition  to  pay  more  for  the  work. 

We  thus  see  how  population  is  drawn  to  some  localities  by 
depriving  the  remainder  of  the  country  of  much  of  its  popula- 
tion. If  this  was  a  natural  demand  the  country  would  be 
benefited,  for  by  this  process  articles  and  wares  would  be  pro- 


44  UNWISE  LAWS. 

duced  that  the  country  was  in  need  of,  and  as  they  were  pro- 
duced in  the  face  of  free  competition  the  people  would  be 
compelled  to  pay  for  them  only  a  moderate  if  indeed  any 
advance. 

But  as  this  distribution  is  an  artificial  one,  by  reason  of  the 
law  arbitrarily  cutting  off  the  supply  of  iron,  it  follows  natu- 
rally that  it  must  be  accomplished  at  the  expense  of  something 
or  of  somebody.  Are  the  people  going  to  leave  the  employ- 
ments already  engaged  in  to  follow  manufacturing,  with  the 
attendant  increase  of  the  cost  of  living  in  a  town  or  city, 
merely  to  obtain  their  present  wages  ?  No,  they  will  not ;  and 
they  only  do  so  when  they  get  an  advance  more  than  enough 
to  cover  all  the  increased  cost  of  the  change.  If  the  goods 
they  made  were  exported,  the  foreigner  must  pay  the  increase, 
but  as  they  are  not  exported  but  are  consumed  at  home,  the 
country  or  the  home  consumers  must  bear  the  burden  of  the 
increased  wages. 

And  then  when  the  manufacturers  are  besieged  and  be- 
sought for  their  goods  (remember  the  law  has  arbitrarily  shut 
out  all  foreign  supplies),  will  they  be  content  with  the  average 
profits  of  other  employments  ?  Surely  not.  They  will  naturally 
demand  and  receive  the  highest  profits  the  competition  for 
their  goods  will  justify.  If,  as  we  said,  these  goods  were  ex- 
ported, the  "  pauper  labor  "  of  other  countries  must  pay  the 
increased  profits.  But  as  they  are  not  exported,  who  then  pays 
their  increased  profits  ?  The  country  or  the  home  consumers 
of  course.  Again,  when  competition  is  shut  out  and  profits 
are  consequently  large,  will  manufacturers  economize  in  their 
work  and  seek  out  and  adopt  inventions  and  appliances  for 
turning  out  their  productions  at  the  least  cost  ?  No,  they  will 
not,  but  they  will,  on  the  contrary,  be  negligent,  wasteful 
and  extravagant,  for  the  reason  that,  though  they  might,  by 
c'lose  attention  to  business  and  strict  economy,  make  a  profit  of 
one  hundred  per  cent,  and  more  (the  present  reduced  duty  on 
pig-iron,  which  is  the  basis  of  the  whole  iron  industry,  is,  in- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  45 

eluding  transportation  to  our  shores,  one  hundred  per  cent.), 
they  are  perfectly  content  to  make  forty  or  fifty  per  cent.,  at 
which  rate  they  make  enormous  fortunes,  by  the  negligent  slip- 
shod methods  they  employ.  Here,  then,  through  negligence, 
laziness,  and  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  manufacturers,  is 
a  loss  in  manufacture  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent.,  or  say  twenty- 
five  per  cent.,  or  even  of  ten  per  cent., — and  who  bears  this  loss  ? 
The  country  of  course,  or  the  home  consumers.  So,  then,  to 
build  up  this  town,  specimens  of  which  we  see  all  over  the 
Eastern  and  Middle  States,  the  people  all  over  the  country  are 
arbitrarily  compelled  to  bear  the  cost  of  the  increased  wages  of 
the  operatives,  the  cost  of  the  largely  increased  profits  of  the 
manufacturers,  and  the  loss  caused  by  wastefulness  and  negli- 
gence in  manufacture.  And  all  these  additions  of  cost  are 
represented  by  the  greatly  advanced  prices  consumers  must  pay 
for  all  iron  goods.  Where  formerly,  with  free  ccmpetition,  they 
bought  three  axes,  or  three  hoes,  or  three  ploughs,  they  can 
now  only  buy  two,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  list  from  a  nail 
to  a  steam-engine. 

If  iron  were  the  only  itern  singled  out  for  favoritism,  the  in- 
jury, though  great,  would  be  bearable  in  the  lusty  state  of  health 
and  prosperity  the  country  has  been  in,  but  we  all  know  it  is 
not.  There  are  other  gods  in  this  country  besides  the  Creator 
of  the  Universe  and  iron.  Wool  is  also  a  great  deity,  and  in 
like  manner  draws  upon  the  population,  and  artificially  trans- 
fers people  to  the  towns,  and  the  people  in  turn  have  to  bear 
the  increased  costs  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  iron. 
Cotton,  not  the  raw  but  the  manufactured,  is  another  deity, 
though  less  sacred  than  iron  and  wool,  and  cotton  also  drains 
the  country  for  the  towns,  and  in  turn  the  people  have  to  bear 
the  same  increased  costs  as  in  the  case  of  iron  and  wool.  Silk 
is  also  another  deity,  but  from  the  special  favor  shown  her  she 
may  be  classed  as  a  goddess,  say  a  Venus,  or  an  Astarte,  for 
she,  in  her  unadorned  condition,  is  let  in  free,  but  after  she  has 
been  dressed  up  in  the  form  of  silk  cloth,  rivalling  all  the  hues 


46  UNWISE   LAWS. 

not  of  the  rainbow  but  of  the  whole  realm  of  nature,  she  is 
guarded  from  foreign  interruption  by  a  wall  of  protection  which 
formerly  came  up  sixty  per  cent,  of  her  height,  and  which  now 
stands  at  fifty  per  cent.  She  too  has  been  given  power  to  draw  on 
the  rest  of  the  country  and  to  transfer  the  people  from  smiling 
skies  and  fertile  fields  to  the  dirt  of  the  streets  and  the  dust 
and  glare  of  the  factory.  And  the  country  in  turn  pays  all  her 
expenses  and  extravagances,  as  in  the  case  of  iron,  wool,  and 
cotton. 

And  glass  is  another  deity  with  his  principal  shrine  at 
Pittsburg,  and  glass  too  draws  on  the  country  to  build  the 
town,  and  every  dweller  in  habitations,  be  they  hovels  or 
palaces,  lays  heavy  offerings  upon  her  altar.  There  are  other 
deities, — salt,  sugar,  rice,  etc., — all  drawing  away  people  from 
other  occupations  to  produce  them  at  extra  cost  to  the  con- 
sumers. There  are  big  gods  and  little  gods  roaming  over  and 
possessing  the  whole  land.  The  big  gods  we  are  afraid  of,  but  the 
little  gods  we  sometimes  catch  and  treat  them  as  the  little  child 
said  to  his  mother.  ''  Mama,"  he  said,  "  if  I  was  to  meet  the 
big  devil  I  would  be  afraid  of  him,  but  if  I  was  to  meet  a 
little  devil  I  would  knock  the  stuffing  out  of  him."  We — the 
people — sometimes  knock  the  stuffing  out  of  a  little  god,  as 
when  we  struck  the  shackles  off  of  quinine,  but  the  big  gods, 
like  iron,  we  are  afraid  of,  and  allow  them  to  burden  us 
grievously  in  our  every  interest. 

Here,  then,  we  see  mighty  forces  operating  in  conjunction. 
Here  we  see  iron,  and  wool,  and  cotton,  and  silk,  and  glass,  all 
prime  factors,  and  salt,  and  sugar,  and  rice,  etc.,  the  minor 
forces,  all  operating  on  the  population  to  draw  it  in  one  direc- 
tion, and  that  direction  towards  the  cities.  We  see  these 
forces  drawing  men  from  the  fields,  where  food,  which  under  all 
circumstances  is  wealth,  is  produced,  towards  the  cities,  where 
food  is  consumed  in  the  production  of  articles  which  at  the 
best  are  wealth  only  when  in  due  proportion  to  the  capacity  of 
the  people  to  consume, — and  which  at  other  times,  when  much 


UNWISE  LAWS.  47 

in  excess  of  demand,  are  absolute  burdens  to  their  posses- 
sors, because  they  have  to  be  cared  for  at  an  expense  of 
storage,  of  supervision,  of  taxes,  of  insurance,  of  deprecia- 
tion, which  frequently  consume  all  they  Avill  bring,  and  then 
too  leave  their  owners  in  debt.  That  these  combined  forces 
exert  a  most  powerful  effect  we  see  in  the  populations  of 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  and  New  York, 
where  the  total  increase  of  the  population  of  these  States  from 
1870  to  1880  is  more  than  represented  in  the  cities  and  towns 
of  four  thousand  souls  and  upwards.  And  they  are  further 
shown  by  the  increase  during  the  same  period  of  27 1  per 
cent,  in  the  country  population  against  an  increase  of  39 
per  cent,  in  the  urban  population.  In  the  case  of  the  towns 
the  population  of  the  municipal  limits  merely  is  given,  and  if 
the  increase  of  the  suburbs  was  subtracted  from  the  country 
and  added  to  the  towns  the  increase  of  the  towns  would 
show  a  still  greater  increase,  and  if  the  villages  of  less  than 
four  thousand  inhabitants  were  taken  into  the  calculation  the  in- 
crease of  the  towns  would  be  greater  still.  It  is  perfectly  plain, 
then,  that  the  towns,  or  the  consumers  of  food,  have  increased 
in  a  much  greater  ratio  than  the  country,  or  the  producers  of 
food,  and  it  is  equally  plain  that  this  increase  is  artificial,  or 
brought  about  by  law.  This  law  was  enacted  to  exclude  for- 
eign goods  for  the  express  purpose  of  increasing  our  manufac- 
tures. The  manufactures  could  not  be  increased  without 
additional  hands,  and  these  had  to  be  drawn  mainly  from  the 
country,  though  in  considerable  part  from  immigration,  and 
they  could  not  be  attracted  except  through  higher  wages. 
Manufactures  cannot  be  conducted  on  a  large  scale  except  in 
large  cities,  where  the  subsidiary  manufactures  are  congregated. 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  our  largest  cities,  being  our  largest 
manufacturing  centres.  Hence  we  say  this  distribution  of 
population  is  altogether  artificial  or  unnatural.  It  is  an  axiom, 
that  whatever  is  unnatural  is  injurious,  for  unnatural  is  of 
course  opposed  to  natural,  and  the  natural  is  the  cooperation 


48  UNWISE  LAWS. 

of  forces  for  the  production  of  beneficial  results.  For  the 
operations  of  nature  must  ever  tend  to  preserve  and  to  build 
up,  otherwise  mundane  things  would  cease  to  exist.  Hence 
impoverishment. 

Although  on  one  hand  we  see  a  constant  relative  decrease 
of  producers  of  food  and  a  constant  relative  increase  of  con- 
sumers of  food,  which  finally  leads  to  impoverishment,  it  was 
a  long  time  before  the  impoverishment  began  to  be  apparent. 
There  had  been  a  great  vacuum  created  by  act  of  legislation, 
and  it  took  a  long  time  to  fill  up  this  vacuum,  for  people  must 
have  the  goods  they  were  legally  deprived  of  procuring  except 
from  home  manufacturers,  and  until  the  vacuum  was  filled  the 
towns  must  grow,  built  up  by  the  increased  poverty,  or  at  all 
events  by  the  decreased  prosperity,  of  the  agriculturists,  and 
all  else  who  were  not  manufacturers.  This  process  carried  to 
the  point  of  equilibrium — that  is,  to  a  balancing  of  supply  and 
demand  would  not  have  led  to  great  impoverishment,  for  our 
virgin  fields  were  so  productive  they  could  stand  the  drain  and 
still  yield  their  owners  a  good  profit.  But  as  soon  as  the  sup- 
ply of  manufactures  began  to  exceed  the  demand,  then  impov- 
erishment really  began,  for  people  then  began  to  consume  food 
in  the  production  of  articles  that  were  not  readily  exchange- 
able. But  the  attraction  of  these  mighty  combined  forces 
already  referred  to,  cannot,  like  a  mustard  plaster,  be  withdrawn 
in  a  moment,  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  must  continue  to  draw 
like  the  same  plaster  when  allowed  to  remain  for  hours  on  a 
patient  till  a  painful  blister  is  raised  ;  and  the  fostering  of  man- 
ufactures was  therefore  continued  until  long  after  the  demand 
was  satisfied.  Here  then  was  a  continued  consumption  of  wealth 
for  the  production  of  articles  not  needed,  or  of  articles  which 
could  not  be  consumed  in  the  production  of  greater  \vealth.  To 
do  this  is  to  impoverish,  just  as  if  a  man  with  a  hundred  bushels 
of  wheat  which  he  could  sell  for  an  hundred  dollars  were  to 
consume  it  in  building  a  machine  of  which  there  was  already 
an  excess  in  the  market.     For  the  man  would  then  have  not 


UNWISE  LA  WS.  A^i:^ 

wheat,  but  a  machine  for  which  there  was  no  sale.  In  other 
words,  he  would  be  impoverished.  Suppose  the  same  thing 
holds  true  of  hundreds  and  of  thousands,  does  not  the  poverty 
of  these  hundreds  and  thousands  tend  to  national  poverty? 

But  the  factory  and  the  workmen  are  in  the  city,  and  the 
proprietor  must  have  his  profit,  and  the  workman  must  have 
his  wages,  for  they  must  all  live,  so  both  factory  and  hands  are 
kept  at  work,  and  wares  are  turned  out,  and  to  make  up  for 
the  decreased  profits  which  competition  entails,  each  manufac- 
turer must  increase  the  output  of  his  plant.  And  to  produce 
this  extra  amount  means  a  still  further  draft  upon  the  decreased 
supply  of  wealth,  which  is  food,  and  so  the  poverty  is  still 
further  increased.  But  as  the  current  cannot  stop  at  once, 
other  manufacturers  and  other  workmen,  reinforced  by  a  large 
portion  of  the  3,600,000  immigrants  who  have  entered  our  ports 
since  1879,  engage  in  manufactures,  and  the  towns  and  the  cities 
still  continue  to  grow,  and  the  mills  and  the  factories  continue  to 
increase.  Well,  every  brick  laid  in  excess  of  natural  demand, 
and  every  blow  struck,  is  a  destruction  of  wealth,  and  this,  mul- 
tipled  by  the  millions  of  millions  of  bricks  laid,  and  the  equally 
multitudinous  blows  struck,  will  produce  an  amount  of  impov- 
erishment utterly  beyond  computation.  What  does  more  than 
half  of  the  furnaces  lying  idle  for  years  at  a  time  prove,  but 
that  all  the  idle  furnaces  are  as  absolute  destruction  of  wealth 
as  if  the  amount  of  food  necessary  for  their  construction  had 
been  burnt  up.  What  do  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  woollen 
machinery  lying  constantly  idle  mean,  but  that  wealth  to  the 
amount  of  the  idle  sets  of  machinery  has  been  completely  de- 
stroyed. The  idle  cotton  mills,  many  of  which  have  been 
sold  for  about  their  cost,  as  old  materials  and  junk,  tell  the 
same  story  of  destruction  of  wealth.  The  glass  factories  lying 
idle  for  twelve  months  through  strikes,  show  an  equally  abso- 
lute destruction  of  wealth,  for  their  unnecessary  number  is 
proved  by  the  factories  which  do  work  being  amply  sufficient 
to  supply  the  demand  for   glass.      Let  any  man  look   around 


50  UNWISE  LAWS. 

him,  and  he  will  see  not  only  these  things,  but  he  will  see  other 
factories,  mills,  and  workshops,  erected  for  the  production  of 
the  numberless  articles  that  civilization  requires,  lying  idle  and 
useless,  broke  because  they  have  been  erected  when  there  was 
no  demand  for  their  productions,  or  perhaps  they  were  origi- 
nal establishments,  wrecked  by  the  competition  of  younger  and 
abler  rivals.  All  these  mean  total  destruction  of  wealth,  as 
total  as  if  swept  away  by  a  conflagration  ;  or  if  one  does  not 
see  them,  he  may  read  almost  daily  such  items  as  this  ; 

"  SALE    OF    A    VILLAGE. 

"  The  Metropolitan  National  Bank  has  become  the  owner,  by  Sheriff's 
sale,  of  the  Wortendyke  (N.  J.)  Manufacturing  Company's  property,  in- 
cluding mills,  tenements,  vacant  lots,  etc.  More  than  one  hundred  cottages, 
occupied  by  operatives  in  the  mills  were  included  in  the  sale.  More  than 
two  thousand  persons  depended  for  their  daily  bread  upon  tlieir  work  in  the 
mills.  In  August,  18S3,  the  property  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver. 
An  inventory  showed  the  total  liabilities  to  be  $800,000,  with  $318,000 
assets.     The  Metropolitan  Bank  paid  $80,000  for  the  property." 

Here  is  ocular  demonstration  of  a  loss  of  $720,000  in  one 
single  enterprise,  and  as  the  soldiers  used  to  say  during  the 
war,  "  The  woods  are  just  full  of  them." 

In  addition,  the  loss  of  wealth,  caused  by  the  constant  idle- 
ness of  operatives,  either  from  strikes  or  from  shut-downs,  or 
from  failures,  is,  in  the  aggregate  enormous,  and  must  be 
added  to  the  national  impoverishment. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  with  all  these  immense  drains 
upon  the  wealth  of  the  country  that  bankruptcy  ensued  ?  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  the  wheels  of  commerce  were  stopped,  being 
clogged  by  the  wrecks  on  every  hand  ?  No  wonder  that  banks 
broke,  that  millionaires  failed,  and  that  universal  apprehension 
of  universal  ruin  was  felt  by  every  man.  No  wonder  that 
goods  were  unsalable,  and  that  all  eyes  were  anxiously  turned 
to  the  harvest,  well  knowing  that  a  failure  of  crops  meant 
actual  want  of  bread  to  millions  of  wives  and  children,  and 
even  of  strong  men.     The  country  was  full  of  every  thing  but 


UNWISE  LAWS.  51 

food  ;  but  food  wanting,  every  thing  else  was  wanting.  Thus  it 
is  that  the  superior  wisdom  of  man,  in  his  legislative  capacity, 
has  plunged  the  land  into  bankruptcy,  by  causing  the  people  to 
forsake  the  country  and  fly  to  the  towns,  in  order  to  engage 
in  producing  articles  that  are  useful  only  when  in  due  propor- 
tion to  subsistence. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

SHOWING     HOW     NON-INTERFERENCE     OPERATES    TO    THE    WEL- 
FARE   OF    THE    PEOPLE. 

In  the  last  chapter  we  showed  in  a  feeble  way,  though  to  the 
best  of  our  ability,  the  evil  effects  of  legal  interference  with  the 
natural  order  of  affairs.  We  showed  among  other  things  that 
legal  interference  artificially  transposed  the  population  by 
offering  direct  inducements  to  congregate  in  excess  in  certain 
localities,  which  could  only  be  done  by  depriving  other  locali- 
ties of  their  due  proportion  of  population  ;  that  it  induced  this 
population  to  engage  in  the  production  of  merchandise  in  ex- 
cess of  demand,  and  to  produce  it  where  it  was  not  wanted  ; 
that  at  the  same  time  through  draining  the  country  of  people 
it  caused  the  raising  of  less  subsistence  ;  and  that  consequently 
it  in  turn  produced  such  national  impoverishment  that  the 
farmers  had  no  money  to  buy  wares,  and  the  mechanics  and 
laborers  had  no  money  to  buy  food,  and  that  consequently  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  collapse  overspread  the  country. 
Having  seen  that  this  interference  led  to  general  disaster,  let  us 
now  trace  the  natural  effects  of  non-interference. 

In  a  former  chapter  we  have  seen  that  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board was  settled  in  three  distinct  latitudes,  to  wit  :  the  frozen 
and  sterile  New  England,  the  fertile  and  temperate  Middle 
States,  and  the  Southern  States,  which  enjoyed  in  addition  to  the 
advantages  of  the  Middle  States  a  fervent  sun,  which  brought 
to  j)crfection  the  more  valuable    products   of   tobacco,    rice, 


52  UNWISE  LAWS. 

cotton,  and  naval  stores.  And  although  all  these  States  were 
so  variously  situated,  their  chief  employment  was  agriculture, 
and  they  followed  agriculture  because  it  was  the  most  profit- 
able employment.  Possessed  of  a  virgin  and,  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  New  England,)  of  a  fertile  soil  they  found  it  more  to 
their  advantage  to  raise  food  for  others  and  to  let  others 
furnish  them  with  cloth  and  iron.  As  long  as  land  was  abun- 
dant it  was  to  be  had  for  little  more  than  the  cost  of  felling  the 
trees,  so  that  the  poorest  became  proprietors  of  the  soil  and  en- 
gaged in  agriculture.  Requiring  no  capital  and  the  ground 
yielding  her  increase  readily,  all  found  profit  in  agriculture,  for 
they  had  a  ready  demand  for  all  their  surplus  grain  and  meat. 
As  long  as  these  conditions  prevailed,  and  they  have  substan- 
tially prevailed  to  the  present  day,  agriculture  continued  very 
profitable  and  it  would  have  been  pursued  as  the  main  occupa- 
tion of  tho  people  till  now,  but  for  the  influence  of  New  Eng- 
land interests  as  set  forth  in  the  second  chapter. 

Owing  to  the  sterility  of  the  soil  and  the  harshness  of  the 
climate  of  New  England,  its  people  soon  found  it  necessary  to 
diversify  their  employments,  and  what  did  they  do  ?  If  they 
had  followed  the  example  of  their  shrewd  descendants  of  later 
days,  they  would  have  gone  to  their  provincial  assemblies  and 
demanded  legal  assistance  in  making  the  change,  and  they 
would  have  bound  many  that  a  few  might  prosper.  But  the 
New  Englander  of  those  days  was  made  of  too  sturdy  stuff  to 
rely  upon  any  thing  but  upon  his  Maker  and  himself,  and  he 
naturally  cast  his  eyes  around  to  see  how  scanty  agriculture 
might  be  eased  out.  He  finds  that  the  seas  that  wash  his  in- 
hospitable shores,  though  rough  and  tempestuous,  abounded 
with  rich  stores  of  cod  and  mackerel,  and  further  out  at  sea 
there  was  abundance  of  whales,  so  he  launches  his  boat  and 
lays  the  waters  under  tribute,  and  thus  he  supplements  agri- 
culture. And  experience  on  the  sea  accustoms  him  to  the 
handling  of  vessels,  and  he  soon  becomes  maritime,  and  he 
builds  vessels,    and  he   goes  sailing   over    rolling   billows   in 


UNWISE  LAWS.  z^-\ 

search  of  cargoes  for  his  bottoms,  and  of  trade  in  exchange 
for  his  fish  and  whale  oil.  He  prospers  ,and  is  thus  enabled 
to  live  in  comfort  in  his  sterile  land.  In  the  earlier  period 
of  his  existence,  the  New  Englander  exemplified  the  state 
of  affairs  that  naturally  arises  under  legal  non-interfer- 
ence. If  one  employment  slackens  or  fails  he  promptly  re- 
sorts to  others.  When  agriculture  fails  to  yield  a  fair  reward 
he  turns  to  fishing  and  seafaring,  and  when  they  in  turn  are 
overdone  he  turns  again  to  agriculture,  and  therefore  he  pros- 
pered steadily  and  continuously.  There  were  no  panics  and  no 
dreadful  periods  of  collapse  in  those  days.  But,  as  we  have 
seen  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  sons  have  been  wiser  than  their 
sires  and  have  changed  all  this. 

Let  us  follow  the  development  of  business  under  non-inter- 
ference. As  we  have  seen,  agriculture  was  the  principal  em- 
ployment, and  with  few  exceptions  the  people  were  farmers.  As 
soil  was  fertile  and  land  abundant,  they  found  their  occupation 
was  very  profitable,  and  they  soon  found  themselves  possessed  of 
a  surplus.  Their  first  employment  was  to  build  a  cabin  for  pro- 
tection, and  to  clear  or  deaden  a  few  acres  for  corn  and 
potatoes  ;  and  as  they  prospered  they  cleared  more  land,  and 
built  a  stable  and  a  barn.  A  little  later  they  added  fences  and 
built  larger  dwellings,  and  increased  their  stock  by  a  horse  or 
two,  a  few  cows,  and  a  few  sheep.  They  go  on  adding  to  their 
lands,  clearing  more  forests,  and  increasing  the  comforts  and 
conveniences  of  the  homestead.  Instead  of  going  a  long  dis- 
tance to  the  spring  they  dig  a  well  in  the  yard  ;  instead  of 
having  the  fowls  roosting  in  the  trees,  they  build  a  hen-house 
convenient  for  the  wife,  a  shed  for  the  wood,  and  numberless 
other  things.  But  after  doing  all  this  they  still  have  a  suri)lus, 
and  wishing  to  employ  it,  one  man  builds  a  grist-mill,  and  as 
this  saves  the  neighbors  from  the  long  horseback  ride  they 
formerly  had  to  take  in  order  to  reach  a  mill  in  some  other 
township,  he  gets  the  custom  of  the  neighborhood  and  prospers. 
Another  sets  up  a  blacksmith's  or  a  wheelwright's  shop,  and 


54  UNWISE  LAWS. 

another  turns  tailor  or  shoemaker  ;  and  by  degrees  the  industry 
of  the  community  becomes  diversified  and  all  prosper,  for  the 
various  accessories  of  farming  arise  only  as  there  is  a  natural 
demand  for  them.  If  these  simple  folk  had  been  as  wise  as 
their  polished  descendants,  they  would  have  said  to  themselves  : 
"  See,  our  rivals  a  few  miles  away  have  a  mill,  and  we  ought  to 
have  one  too  ;  and  besides  it  is  mortifying  that  we  have  to  send 
to  them  to  have  our  corn  ground."  So  by  exciting  their  envy, 
they  commit  the  community  to  building  a  mill.  But  it  is  found 
that  the  population  is  not  sufficient  to  support  a  mill  by  paying 
one-eighth  toll  which  their  neighbors  charge,  so  no  one  volun- 
teers to  start  a  mill.  Consequently  the  matter  dies  out  till  a 
clique  suggests  :  True,  one-eighth  toll  will  not  support  a  mill  ; 
so  let  us  pass  a  local  law  that  every  man  shall  pay  one-fourth 
toll,  and  shall  not  have  his  corn  ground  anywhere  else  except 
at  our  mill.  By  this  means  they  would  get  a  mill,  but  it  would 
be  at  the  expense  of  every  man  paying  two  bushels'  toll,  while 
he  could  still  get  his  work  done  elsewhere  for  one  bushel. 
Our  artless  forefathers  believed  that  the  chief  end  of  man 
was,  according  to  the  catechism,  to  glorify  God  and  not,  accor- 
ding to  the  modern  school  of  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania, 
to  manufacture  goods,  so  they  preferred  to  wait  a  while  till  the 
natural  demand  would  support  a  mill  at  customary  toll,  and 
when  that  time  came  they  got  their  mill,  and  also  got  their 
work  done  at  the  right  price. 

Population  increasing  by  the  rise  of  large  families,  and 
partly  also  through  immigration,  the  demand  for  manufactures 
increases,  and  by  degrees  it  is  found  that  it  is  inconvenient  and 
expensive  too  for  every  farmer  to  be  his  own  blacksmith, 
wheelwright,  and  mechanic  generally.  Therefore  a  greater 
demand  falls  upon  the  local  mechanic,  so  that  the  blacksmith 
adds  other  branches  of  iron  work  to  horse-shoeing,  and  the 
wheelwright  adds  the  manufacture  of  vehicles  to  simple  repairs. 
Then  the  housewife  finds  it  cheaper  to  have  her  wool  carded  for 
her  than  to  do  it  herself,  and  a  local  carding  machine  is  set  up, 


UNWISE  LAWS.  55 

and  various  other  branches  of  manufactures  are  started  in  the 
same  way.  Thus  a  nucleus  of  machine-shops,  woollen  factories, 
etc.,  is  started,  to  grow  and  prosper  as  the  community  prospers. 
By  and  by,  too,  every  woman  will  cease  to  her  own  family  physi- 
cian, and  doctors  will  make  their  appearance,  and  will  substi- 
tute jalap  and  salts  for  fennel  and  herb  tea.  As  population 
increases  business  transactions  increase  also,  and  lawyers  are 
needed  to  make  laws  and  to  compose  differences,  and  lawyers 
make  their  appearance.  And  as  needs  for  different  occupa- 
tions become  apparent,  so  people  to  follow  them  make  their 
appearance  as  fast  as  the  remuneration  is  sufficient  to  attract 
them  from  agriculture  or  other  employments.  In  the  mean- 
time stores  have  made  their  appearance,  for  the  daughter,  tiring 
of  plain  homespun,  adorned  at  times,  perhaps,  with  only  a  black 
stripe  or  check  which  the  mother's  art  has  extracted  from  the 
walnut  bark  and  has  rendered  fast  by  a  little  copperas,  sighs 
for  the  bright  calico  and  brilliant  worsted  from  the  city  ;  and 
the  son  gets  ashamed  of  his  coon-skin  cap  for  his  Sunday's 
best,  and  must  have  a  real  beaver  or  felt  hat.  The  father,  too. 
finds  he  has  an  increasing  surplus  of  grain  and  meat,  wool 
peltries,  etc.,  and  he  desires  to  exchange  these  things  for  an  axe, 
a  scythe,  or  a  plough,  for  powder  and  ball,  and  other  things,  to 
add  to  his  convenience  and  comfort  ;  and  thence  arises  the 
petty  shop,  to  be  developed  in  time  into  the  large  store,  where 
the  community  can  supply  all  their  ordinary  wants  by  means  of 
barter,  for  as  yet  there  is  no  money  in  circulation,  and  what 
does  make  its  appearance  is  stored  away  and  watched  with  a 
miser's  care  in  the  deep  receptacle  of  a  stocking. 

In  connection  with  country  stores,  I  will  now  make  a  brief 
digression.  The  proprietors  of  some  of  these  stores  in  Vir- 
ginia amassed  large  fortunes,  for,  located  far  from  navigable 
streams,  the  methods  of  transj)ortation  were  so  expensive  few 
had  the  means  of  competing  with  them,  and  they  consequently 
monopolized  the  trade  of  large  sections.  They  became  the 
founders  of  influential  families,  who  displayed  a  pride  in  ad- 


56  UNWISE  LAWS. 

verse  ratio  to  the  plainness  and  unpretention  of  their  ancestors. 
Of  three  families  the  writer  is  cognizant  of,  two  had  interesting 
incidents  connected  with  them,  but  of  the  third  nothing  but 
pride  and  arrogance  was  ever  conspicuous.  One  of  these 
wealthy  merchants  had  three  attractive  daughters,  one  of  whom 
was  a  noted  beauty.  At  the  same  time  there  were  three  young 
Virginians  in  Edinburgh  studying  medicine.  The  youngsters 
knew  of  the  daughters,  perhaps  knew  them  personally  ;  but  at 
all  events  the  three  entered  into  an  agreement  to  return  home 
and  marry  the  three  girls,  and  strange  to  say,  they  succeeded 
in  carrying  out  their  agreement.  The  other  merchant  be- 
friended a  youth  who  was  reputed  to  be  a  waif,  but  sup- 
posed by  some  to  be  still  more  nearly  related  to  the  merchant. 
In  course  of  time  the  youth,  now  become  a  young  man,  emi- 
grated to  a  far  Southern  State,  where  he  lived  a  bachelor  and 
died,  leaving  an  estate  of  ten  millions  of  dollars,  all  of  which 
he  bequeathed  to  the  son  of  his  early  friend. 

So  far  the  country  is  supplied  with  the  coarser  manufactures, 
but  the  people  still  prefer  to  exchange  with  others  their  labor 
in  the  shape  of  agricultural  products  for  the  labor  of  others  in 
the  shape  of  the  finer  manufactured  goods.  But  gradually,  as 
the  people  grow  wealthy  from  agriculture,  they  set  up  here  and 
there  finer  branches  of  manufacture.  The  carding  machine 
developed  into  a  factory  for  making  woollen  cloth,  the  black- 
smith shop  into  a  foundry  for  castings  or  into  a  mill  for  making 
tools,  the  wheelwright  shop  into  a  manufactory  of  wagons  and 
carriages.  The  shoemaker  took  on  apprentices  and  journey- 
men, and  started  a  shoe  manufactory,  and  the  weaver  of  cotton 
cloth  developed  into  a  cotton  mill.  But  all  these  would  come 
only  as  there  was  a  demand  for  them,  and  as  they  could  them- 
selves supply  the  capital  to  start  them.  The  people  were  little 
accustomed  to  laws  of  any  kind,  but  they  had  discovered  by 
experience  that  each  man  knew  more  about  his  own  business 
than  others  did.  They  knew  practically  the  truth,  that  some  land 
produced  wheat  best,  some  corn,  some  oats  or  rye  ;  and  they 


UNWISE   LAWS.  57 

knew  likewise  that  if  they  sowed  wheat  on  oat  land  they  would 
reap  a  failure.  They  knew  also  that  there  were  some  things 
they  could  do  to  advantage  and  some  things  they  could  not 
do  ;  they  were  therefore  content  to  let  alone  those  things  they 
could  not  do,  and  to  devote  themselves  to  those  things  they 
could  do. 

They  saw  no  advantage  in  making  at  home  what  they  could 
buy  elsewhere  at  a  lower  price  ;  and  if  they  found  that,  with 
the  proceeds  of  ten  days'  labor  they  could  buy  a  plough  or 
other  implement  that  required  the  labor  of  eleven  days  to  make, 
they  preferred  to  buy  rather  than  to  make.  They  practically 
said,  if  ray  neighbor  charges  eleven  dollars  for  an  article 
that  I  can  buy  elsewhere  for  ten,  I  prefer  to  buy  at  ten 
and  make  him  a  present  of  the  other  dollar.  In  this  case 
I  will  get  some  credit  for  liberality  or  benevolence  ;  in  the 
other  case  I  will  get  none.  He  also  said  to  himself,  if 
my  neighbor  expects  me  to  pay  him  a  higher  price  because 
he  is  my  neighbor,  have  I  not  the  same  right  to  expect  him 
to  sell  to  me  at  a  lower  price  because  /  am  his  neighbor? 
He  thinks  the  boot  ought  to  fit  both  legs,  or  if  it  does  not  it 
ought  not  to  be  used  at  all — so  he  got  his  goods  where  he  found 
them  cheapest.  In  other  words  he  got  the  highest  wages  he 
could  for  his  labor.  By  this  process  everybody  gets  the  most 
for  his  labor,  and  therefore  the  community  prospers  most  by  it. 
By  this  process  the  community  does  not  spend  its  substance  in 
paying  people  to  do  certain  things,  for  if  these  things  were 
profitable  somebody  would  be  found  doing  them.  By  this  pro- 
cess there  are  not  for  any  length  of  time  too  many  engaged  in 
any  calling  ;  consequently  there  is  little  waste  of  labor,  which  is 
but  another  name  for  wealth.  If  there  are  too  many  raising 
grain,  then  grain  becomes  superabundant,  the  price  drops,  and 
those  who  are  in  the  least  favorable  position  for  raising  it,  either 
because  they  are  poor  farmers  or  have  poor  land,  are  forced  to 
go  at  something  else.  And  even  with  grain,  if  too  much  corn 
is  planted  the  price  of  corn  is  lower  than  wheat  or  oats,  and 


58  UNWISE  LAWS. 

farmers  switch  off  to  the  most  profitable  grain,  and  corn  re- 
sumes in  a  short  time  its  normal  price.  So  the  excess  of 
ploughs,  wagons,  cloth,  etc.,  is  corrected  in  the  same  way,  for 
when  the  price  falls  below  a  profitable  point  production  is 
speedily  curtailed.  And  deficiency  of  any  article  is  corrected  in 
an  opposite  way  ;  the  price  rises,  it  becomes  profitable  beyond 
the  average,  and  the  manufacturers  thereof  increase  their  pro- 
duction till  the  vacuum  is  filled.  By  this  process  profits  never 
remain  high  for  a  long-enough  period  to  induce  an  extra 
amount  of  capital  to  flow  in  any  direction  and  become  locked 
up  in  undertakings  which  prosper  for  a  time  and  then  fail. 
Take  a  man,  for  example,  with  a  capital  of  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars. He  is  tempted  by  the  high  price  of  some  article  to  engage 
in  its  manufacture,  and  to  build  a  factory  and  stock  it  with  ma- 
chinery. Before  he  gets  fairly  to  work  an  abundant  supply  of 
the  article  is  thrown  on  the  market  and  the  price  falls,  so  that 
he  can  work  only  at  a  loss,  and  consequently  the  factory 
is  worthless  to  him.  He  has  thus  lost  his  ten  thousand 
dollars  ;  but  if  the  article  in  question  was  made  artificially  dear 
by  shutting  off  its  supply,  the  price  would  be  kept  up  so  long 
that  a  great  many  would  rush  into  its  manufacture  and  a  great 
deal  of  money  would  be  invested  in  buildings  and  machinery, 
with  an  inevitable  great  final  loss  ;  so  that,  instead  of  a  loss  of. 
ten  thousand  dollars  in  the  natural  order,  there  would  probably 
be  a  loss  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  under  the  artificial 
order  of  affairs.  But  in  the  natural  order,  where  competition 
both  at  home  and  abroad  is  brought  to  bear,  the  price  is  rarely 
or  never  kept  at  a  high  level  long  enough  to  induce  any  large  ex- 
tra flow  of  capital  in  its  direction.  The  country  is  spared  the 
loss  of  a  great  deal  of  its  capital.  It  is  very  true  that  under 
this  process  a  few  people  do  not  make  immense  fortunes, 
for  profits  in  all  directions  are  pretty  nearly  uniform.  But 
while  some  do  not  become  immensely  wealthy  what  is  made 
is  shared  more  uniformly  among  all.  Under  this  system  we 
shall  probably  never  see  a  Gould  or  a  Vanderbilt,  but  on  the 


UNWISE  LA  I  VS.  59 

Other  hand  we  shall  probably  never  see  the  land  filled  with 
eleemosynary  institutions  of  every  description.  Under  the 
present  system  more  people  are  made  poor  by  Gould  and 
Vanderbilt  and  Huntingdon  and  the  whole  race  of  plutocrats 
getting  the  shares  that  rightfully  belong  to  others,  than  by  the 
indolence  or  worthlessness  of  those  who  are  thrown  on  the 
public  charity. 

Under  the  system  of  non-interference  competition  both  from 
home  and  foreign  sources  is  the  balance-wheel  of  society. 
Competition  is  not  only  the  life  of  trade  but  it  is  the  life  of  the 
body  politic  also.  Competition  puts  everybody  on  his  best 
behavior,  develops  his  greatest  energies  and  sharpens  his  in- 
tellectual faculties  to  the  utmost.  Competition  makes  one 
active,  intelligent,  and  enterprising.  Competition  makes  one  ex- 
plore the  depths  of  the  sea,  ransack  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
investigate  the  mysteries  of  the  sky,  in  order  that  he  may  benefit 
his  fellow-man.  Competition  builds  mighty  ships,  lays  rail- 
roads, and  suspends  telegraph  wires  in  air  above  and  sinks  them 
in  depths  of  ocean  below,  so  that  men  of  most  distant  climes  may 
speedily  intermingle  or  communicate  their  ideas  and,  thereby  ob- 
literate the  prejudices  which  from  the  dawn  of  human  existence 
have  made  them  enemies  of  each  other.  •  Competition  is  the 
current  of  rich  blood  that  flows  rapidly  through  the  veins  giv- 
ing lustre  to  the  eye,  bloom  to  the  check,  strength  to  the  arm,  and 
warmth  to  the  heart.  Competition  is  buoyant  life,  is  budding 
spring,  growing  summer  and  ripening  autumn  ;  non-competi- 
tion is  stagnant  death  and  lifeless  winter.  Under  the  system 
of  non-interference  the  community  enjoys  the  whole  benefit  of 
the  advantages  of  competition.  It  makes  the  farmer  use  the 
most  improved  implements  and  the  best  stock,  so  that  if  possi- 
ble he  may  raise  his  crops  cheaper  than  his  neighbor.  It  makes 
the  manufacturer  study  his  business  with  the  utmost  attention 
and  minuteness,  so  that  he  may  not  only  correct  waste  of  every 
kind  but  also  discover  improvements  to  be  adopted.  It  makes 
the  workman  assiduous  in  his  duties  and  skilful  in  his  manipu- 


6o  UNWISE  LAWS. 

latfons,  so  that  he  may  get  higher  wages  or  secure  promotion. 
It  makes  the  merchant  lessen  his  profits,  so  that  he  may  extend 
his  business  or  at  least  hold  his  own.  It  makes  the  clerk  po- 
lite and  attentive  to  his  customers,  so  that  they  may  follow  him 
when  he  changes  employers.  It  improves  and  brightens  all  it 
touches,  and  the  public  gains  the  whole  benefit. 

But  what  does  legal  interference  do  ?  It  immediately  shuts 
the  door  in  the  face  of  this  beneficent  agent,  and  says  Begone ! 
It  says  :  We  want  none  of  the  natural  or  acquired  advantages  of 
England,  or  of  France,  or  of  Germany,  or  of  any  part  of  the 
whole  earth,  except  of  the  small  portion  embraced  within  our 
bounds.  England  says  :  I  have  coal  and  iron  so  close  together, 
and  I  have  been  engaged  in  manufacturing  so  long,  and  have  so 
much  capital  invested  in  it  for  which  I  am  satisfied  with  half 
the  interest  you  pay  at  home,  I  can  furnish  you  a  great  deal 
cheaper  than  you  can  supply  yourself,  so  let  me  supply  your 
wants  in  this  line.  And  she  adds  :  While  I  can  furnish  you 
cheaper  iron,  you  can,  owing  to  your  cheap  land,  supply  me  with 
bread  cheaper  than  I  can  raise  it  in  my  little  island.  By  doing 
this  you  can  get  more  iron,  and  I  can  get  more  bread,  so  we  will 
both  be  benefited.  To  any  sane  man  this  seems  very  reason- 
able, but  no,  says  Legal  Interference  :  I  don't  care  if  it  does 
cost  me  more  to  make  iron  at  home,  I  won't  let  my  people 
have  a  single  pound  of  your  iron  if  I  can  help  it.  So,  in  order 
to  have  iron,  the  country  taxes  or  impoverishes  itself  in  order 
to  reimburse  the  iron  men  for  the  loss  they  sustain,  because 
they  are  not  as  favorably  situated  as  England  is,  and  have  not 
her  experience  in  making  iron. 

Germany  says  :  I  have  superior  advantages  for  supplying 
you  with  hosiery,  woollen  cloths,  cutlery,  glassware,  etc.,  let  me 
furnish  you  with  them,  and  you  furnish  me  with  food,  for  you 
have  not  only  more  and  cheaper  land,  but  better  also  than  I  have. 
The  same  answer,  No,  is  given,  and  the  people  are  made  to 
pay  the  few  manufacturers  of  these  articles  for  the  loss  they 
would  otherwise    sustain  in    making  them,  because  they  are 


UNWISE  LAWS.  6 1 

not  as  favorably  situated  as  Germany  is.  England  pities  us,  and 
says  to  herself  :  Because  you  refuse  your  people  the  benefit  of 
my  advantages,  I  will  not  be  foolish  enough  to  deprive  my  people 
of  your  advantages,  so  send  me  all  you  can  that  you  can  raise 
cheaper  than  I  can.  But  Germany  is  not  so  wise.  She,  as  is  to 
be  borne  in  mind,  is  military  intus  ct  in  cute,  and  is,  therefore, 
arbitrary,  and  as  to  be  arbitrary  is  to  be  foolish,  she  replies  : 
Well,  you  injure  my  people  by  preventing  them  from  furnishing 
you  with  goods  cheaper  than  you  can  make  them.  I  will  injure 
them  further  by  preventing  them  from  buying  your  cheap  food  ; 
so  here  goes  a  prohibition  of  your  pork  and  bacon  crossing  our 
borders  ;  and  if  you  don't  like  that,  here  is  another  :  on  all 
the  grain  you  send  us  you  must  pay  us  roundly  for  allowing  it 
to  enter  our  ports.  This  is  frying  Jonathan  in  his  own  grease, 
so  he  bellows  lustily  and  threatens  Hans  with  all  sorts  of 
things,  and  goes  to  Congress  and  demands  this  and  that  retali- 
tion.  But  Hans  laughs,  for  he  knows  that  Jonathan  has  al- 
ready excluded  himself  from  most  of  the  advantages  Germany 
can  offer,  and  that  notwithstanding  all  his  bluster,  he  can  do 
no  more.  When  Jonathan  was  doing  all  the  knocking  it 
seemed  fine  fun,  but  as  soon  as  he  gets  hit  back  he  bellows, 
and  says  :  Ma,  make  Hans  behave  himself. 

France  how  steps  forward,  and  says,  with  her  characteristic 
politeness  :  I  occupy  a  fair  and  fruitful  land.  It  is  the  home 
of  the  grape  and  the  silkworm,  and  my  children,  from  cen- 
turies of  experience,  have  acquired  such  skill  in  making  wines 
and  brandies,  and  such  taste  in  blending  designs  and  color- 
ings in  the  manufacture  of  silk  goods,  and  objects  of  art  gen- 
erally, I  can  supply  you  with  these  things  with  much  greater 
advantage  than  you  can  produce  them  ;  indeed,  you  cannot  ap- 
proach the  flavor  and  the  richness  of  my  wines,  nor  the  beauty 
of  my  silks,  etc.  The  same  gruff  answer,  No,  is  given,  and  we 
proceed  to  tax  our  people  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  silk 
goods,  for  the  benefit  of  two  or  three  towns  and  villages  ;  and 
because  France  is  foolish  enough  to  deny  herself  the  benefit  of 
the  many  advantages  we  have  to  offer,  we  almost  absolutely 


62  UNWISE  LAWS. 

prohibit  her  from  sending  us  her  wines,  her  olive-oil,  her  dried 
fruits,  and  the  many  objects  of  taste  and  beauty  that  issue 
from  her  factories. 

By  this  process  of  non-interference  extremes  are  in  great 
measure  prevented,  and  affairs  move  along  in  the  golden  mean. 
It  is  true  that  panics  will  sometimes  come,  for  nothing  short  of 
a  complete  change  of  nature  will  prevent  the  Anglo-Saxon,  but 
especially  the  American,  from  speculating,  but  they  will  not  be 
as  lasting,  though  perhaps  as  acute,  as  under  the  present  order 
of  affairs,  for  competition  will  constantly  exert  a  restraining  in- 
fluence, and  prevent  excess  reaching  the  extremes  we  now  fre- 
quently witness,  and  as  excess  of  speculation  is  prevented,  so 
excess  of  depression,  for  action  and  reaction  are  correlative,  is 
avoided.  By  this  process  labor  obtains  steady  employment, 
instead  of  the  fluctuation  from  high  to  low  wages,  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  thousands  of  instances  by  total  lack  of  employment, 
which  we  have  all  witnessed.  By  this  process  the  laborer  is 
taught  to  practise  economy,  and  we  are  told,  and  told  truly, 
that  economy  is  wealth,  by  which  means  he  avoids  the  evil  ef- 
fects of  the  extravagance  which  so-called  flush  times  begets, 
but  which  he  cannot  shake  off  when  the  evil  day  of  hard  times 
follows.  And  not  only  is  the  laborer,  but  all  classes  are 
taught  economy,  which  we  call  one  of  the  prime  virtues,  for 
economy  is  truly  the  foundation  of  all  the  virtues  which  adorn 
and  dignify  home.  By  this  process  people  are  taught  that  the 
road  to  happiness  and  wealth  is  along  the  pathway  of  honest 
toil,  so  to  their  economy  they  add  the  virtue  of  industry  ;  and 
as  honesty  is  invariably  associated  with  economy  and  industry, 
we  thus  have  a  people  adorned  with  all  the  virtues  which  en- 
rich a  country  mentally,  morally,  and  physically.  Interference 
in  the  guise  of  so-called  protection,  has  engulfed  us  in  failures, 
bankruptcies,  and  dreadful  depressions,  which  have  lasted 
almost  uninterruptedly  since  1873.  Now  let  us  try  non-inter- 
ference, which  is  sure  to  bring  gladness  in  the  place  of  sor- 
row, smiles  in  the  place  of  tears,  and  permanent  prosperity  in 
place  cf  constantly  recurring  adversity. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  63 

CHAPTER  IX. 

HOW     PROTECTION    (sO-CALLEd)     OR    PARTIAL    LAWS    PRODUCE 
EXTREMES   OF    WEALTH    AND    POVERTY. 

Government,  by  reason  of  the  great  sums  necessary  to  carry 
it  on  in  these  modern  times,  is  a  vast  edifice,  resting  heavily  upon 
the  shoulders  of  the  people.  In  the  savage  or  nomadic  state, 
this  structure  is  of  so  slight  a  character  as  not  to  be  felt  by  the 
people.  But  in  the  civilized  state  this  structure,  in  consequence 
of  the  military  requirements  of  the  present  and  inherited  military 
burdens  of  the  past,  and  also  by  the  supposed  necessity  of  gov- 
ernment acting  in  a  paternal  spirit  towards  all  the  employments 
of  its  citizens,  has  grown  to  be  a  burden  of  such  immense 
magnitude  and  weight,  that  it  falls  with  crushing  force  upon 
those  who  have  to  bear  more  than  their  proportionate  share  of 
the  burden.  As  yet  we  have  experienced  this  fact  to  a  small 
extent,  for  we  have  been  able  to  draw  ad  libitum  upon  the  re- 
sources of  a  virgin  continent,  and  our  burden  has  been  lightened 
because  it  has  rested  upon  an  ever-expanding  basis  ;  but  in 
old  countries,  the  home  of  the  "  pauper  labor,"  at  the  mere 
mention  of  which  we  tremble  as  children  do  at  the  name  of 
Blue  Beard  or  some  other  ogre,  this  truth  is  exemplified  by  the 
extremes  of  wealth  and  woe  which  we  observe  on  every  side.  In 
a  condition  of  impartial  laws,  every  citizen  may  be  imagined  as 
going  about  carrying  an  invisible  but  real  weight  in  proportion 
to  his  person  and  means  combined.  As  every  man's  life  is 
equally  as  valuable  to  himself  as  another's  is  to  himself,  so 
each  man  would  bear  an  equal  burden  on  account  of  personal 
security  assured  him  by  government,  and,  in  addition  thereto, 
he  would  bear  a  burden  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  his  prop- 
erty also  protected  by  the  government.  The  weight  being 
thus  borne  equally  by  all,  all  would  have  the  same  opportunity, 
as  far  as  law  Avas  concerned,  of  making  progress  in  the  course 
they  had  marked  out  for  themselves. 

For  example,  here  are  two  men,  with  no    possessions  but 


64  UNWISE  LAWS. 

health,  strength,  and  honesty,  starting  off  in  life.  They  are 
bearing  an  equal  share  of  the  burden  of  the  government  which 
protects  them,  and  being  thus  in  all  respects  equally  matched, 
they  make  equal  progress,  and  acquire  equal  possessions. 
But  presently,  for  some  reason,  no  matter  what,  whether  from 
accident  or  design,  or  whether  from  benevolent  or  evil  mo- 
tives, or  from  patriotic  or  unpatriotic  views,  one  has  his  burden 
lifted  from  him.  What  will  be  the  effect  ?  Will  not  the  one 
made  free  make  greater  progress  than  the  other,  and  in  the 
race  for  wealth  will  he  not  accumulate  more  than  the  other  ? 
Certainly  he  will.  And  suppose,  further,  that  the  burden  lifted 
from  the  one  is  transferred  to  the  other,  will  not  the  progress 
of  the  one  be  in  much  greater  ratio  still  ?  The  reply  certainly 
will  be  the  same.  But  suppose,  further,  that  the  unburdened 
man  was  further  relieved  by  this  same  law  of  the  burden  rest- 
ing upon  the  property  which  he  had  gained,  and  that  his  prop- 
erty burden  was  transferred,  like  his  other  burdens,  to  the 
shoulders  of  his  companion,  would  not  the  proportion  between 
the  progress  of  the  two  be  greater  still  ?  There  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  reply.  But  suppose,  further,  that  there  are  several 
persons  starting  out  instead  of  two,  and  suppose  that  the  bur- 
dens are  shifted  from  all  to  the  shoulders  of  one,  will  not  the 
progress  of  the  one  be  slower  still,  granting  he  made  any 
progress  at  all  ?  Certainly.  And  when  this  progress  is  con- 
tinued for  any  length  of  time,  what  is  the  inevitable  result  ? 
There  are  two  extremes,  one  gets  rich  and  the  other  gets  poor. 
Unequal  laws  produce  all  these  various  effects. 

No  one  questions  that  government  is  a  burden  ;  no  one 
questions  that  the  burden  must  rest  upon  the  citizens,  and  no 
one  questions  that  if  any  of  the  citizens  are  relieved  of  their 
burdens,  the  said  burdens  must  be  borne  by  the  remainder  of 
the  citizens  in  addition  to  their  own  share  of  their  burdens. 
For  instance,  if  ten  men  are  upholding  equally  a  weight  of  one 
thousand  pounds,  they  sustain  one  hundred  pounds  each  ;  but 
suppose  one  is  relieved,  do  not  the  nine  men  have  then  to  bear 


UNWISE  LAWS.  65 

the  whole  one  thousand  pounds,  or  one  hundred  and  eleven 
pounds  each  ?  We  can  see  by  this  simple  illustration  how  the 
weight  of  government  affects  the  citizen. 

No  one  questions  that  unequal  laws  must  affect  people  une- 
qually, and  no  one  will  question  that  so-called  protective  laws  are 
enacted  for  the  express  purpose  of  acting  unequally.  If  they 
were  not  intended  to  operate  unequally  they  would  never  have 
seen  the  light.  A  protective  law  relating  to  iron  is  enacted 
expressly  that  John  Smith  may  be  enabled  to  make  iron,  not 
cheaper  than  it  had  heretofore  been,  but  that  he  may  sell  it  at 
a  higher  price,  and  it  says,  in  effect  to  him  :  John,  I  hereby 
authorize  you  to  sell  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  iron  for 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars,  and  I  will  do  it  in  this 
way :  If  your  customer.  Brown,  attempts  to  buy  iron  else- 
where, or  from  some  other  person  situated  as  you  are,  when  he 
attempts  to  land  it  I  will  employ  a  man  at  my  own  expense — 
you  need  not  spend  any  time,  or  attention,  or  money  in  doing 
this — and  I  will  say  to  him.  Stop,  Brown,  you  can't  get  that 
iron  unless  you  pay  me  thirty-five  dollars  in  addition.  So  you 
see,  John,  Brown  won't  attempt  to  evade  buying  of  you  in  the 
future,  for  he  will  find  it  cheaper  to  pay  you  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  dollars  than  to  pay  a  foreigner  one  hundred  dollars 
for  the  iron,  then  pay  me  thirty-five  dollars,  and  pay  all  the 
freight  besides. 

So,  then,  a  protective  law  as  intended,  acts  unequally,  and 
affects  people  and  their  interests  unequally.  In  other  words, 
it  lifts,  to  a  great  extent,  the  burden  from  John  Smith,  and 
transfers  it  to  the  people  at  large.  This  transfer  may  be  made 
from  the  purest  or  from  the  basest  motives.  Patriotism  of  the^ 
most  burning  character  may  swell  the  bosom  of  the  legislator, 
or  greed  of  the  most  selfish  character,  as  when  the  Senator  of 
a  great  State  successfully  defeated  the  efforts  of  the  press  of  the 
whole  country  to  obtain  cheaper  paper,  because  he  was  engaged 
in  a  business  that  would  profit  by  their  failure,  may  secure  the 
passage  of  such  a  law,  but  the  effect  is  the  same — to  lift  bur- 


(^  UNWISE  LAWS. 

dens  from  some  and  shift  them  upon  others.  Those,  then, 
living  under  the  shadow  of  protective  laws,  are  living  under  a 
system  which  lifts  burdens  from  some  and  transfers  them  to 
others  ;  under  a  system  which  heavily  handicaps  at  least  some 
of  the  community  at  the  same  time  that  it  relieves  others  ;  un- 
der a  system  which  produces  a  state  of  affairs  where  some 
must  inevitably  progress  faster  than  others  ;  under  a  system 
where  extremes  must  exist,  and  where,  in  course  of  time,  the 
unburdened  must  progress  with  accelerated  speed,  and  where 
the  burdened  must  sink  faster  and  faster  under  their  bur- 
dens, and  where  the  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  must 
exist.  But  before  proceeding  further,  let  us  glance  at  a  few 
countries  where  partial  and  unequal  laws  prevail,  and  see  the 
condition  of  the  people  in  consequence  of  these  laws. 

Let  us  take  India,  a  country  the  prey  of  unequal  laws  from 
time  immemorial,  and  there  we  will  see  the  extremes  of  wealth 
and  poverty,  for  of  every  million  of  souls  the  worldly  posses- 
sions of  at  least  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  thousand  con- 
sist of  a  girdle  of  cloth  around  the  loins,  a  handful  of  rice,  and 
a  miserable  hut,  and  a  few  of  the  remaining  thousand  possess- 
ing the  wealth  of  a  Stewart  or  a  Vanderbilt.  The  multitude  is 
but  one  remove  from  starvation,  and  famine  not  unfrequently 
sweeps  off  millions  in  a  few  months,  while  the  few  are  scarcely 
touched  by  the  wretchedness  around  them. 

Take  China.  Here  is  a  country  not  so  much  the  prey  of 
insecurity  as  India,  but  it  should  be  the  beau  ideal  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Pennsylvania,  for  China  carries  out  logically  the 
theory  of  protection  to  home  and,  we  suspect,  to  infant  indus- 
tries, for  it  not  only,  until  recently,  refused  admittance  to  for- 
eign goods  of  any  description,  but  it  also  jealously  excluded 
not  only  immigration,  but  even  residence  within  its  bounds,  in 
this  respect  surpassing  our  most  extreme  protectionists  who 
have  never  yet  ventured  to  propose,  much  less  to  attempt,  to 
exclude  foreign  immigration,  which  is  the  worst  form  of  com- 
petition home  labor  can  be  exposed  to.     China  says  if  a  little 


UNWISE  LAWS.  S-J 

protection  is  good  then  complete  protection  or  prohibition  is 
better  ;  she  therefore  forthwith  proceeds  to  prohibit  not  only 
manufactured  goods  but  machinery  of  all  kinds,  so  that  her 
people  may  continue  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  doing  every  thing 
in  the  slowest,  most  cumbersome,  and  most  expensive  manner, 
and  she  also  excludes  persons  so  that  there  will  be  none  to 
compete  with  them  and  so  that  they  may  not  have  before  their 
eyes  the  temptations  of  the  example  of  improved  methods. 
She  says  :  In  order  that  my  people  may  have  abundance  of  labor 
there  shall  not  be  a  road  or  a  wheeled  vehicle  in  my  empire.  My 
people  have  been  accustomed  from  the  time  our  celestial  em- 
peror deigned  to  honor  earth  with  his  presence  to  make  of 
themselves  both  horses  and  wagons,  and  in  order  that  they  may 
continue  to  transport  their  tea  and  other  crops  suspended  from 
the  two  ends  of  a  stick  swung  across  their  shoulders  there  shall 
be  no  innovation  in  the  shape  of  roads  where  animals  and  carts 
might  be  employed  to  lighten  their  toil,  much  less  shall  there 
be  a  railroad  of  any  kind.  And  as  for  steamboats,  none  of 
them  !  for  my  people  prefer  to  pole  or  drag  their  way  toil- 
somely against  wind  and  current.  Labor  must  be  encouraged, 
and  to  that  end  every  thing  must  be  made  as  tedious  and  as 
expensive  as  possible. 

In  all  this  China  is  perfectly  logical,  for  she  carries  the  sys- 
tem of  exclusion,  which  is  only  another  name  for  protection, 
to  its  legitimate  conclusion,  and  what  is  the  result  ?  The  result 
is,  that  the  people  are  so  poor  they  have  little  more  than  a 
change  of  blue  cotton  garments,  and  they  are  so  poor  they  are 
reduced  to  eating  all  kinds  of  vermin,  dealers  in  rats,  cats, 
and  puppies  abounding  everywhere.  They  pursue  the  most 
exhausting  and  degrading  labors  for  a  few  cents  a  day,  and 
their  poverty  is  so  great  that  they  are  little  removed  from  the 
condition  of  the  people  of  India,  and  like  them  they  are  not  un- 
frequently  swept  off  by  famine.  And  while  the  multitude  are 
thus  wretched  and  degraded,  the  few  are  the  most  polished  and 
cultivated  of  mankind,  and  enjoy,  without  restraint,  all  the 


68  UNWISE  LAWS. 

blessings  that  lavish  wealth  can  bestow.  China  excludes  her- 
self from  all  the  advantages  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  the 
natural  consequence  is  that  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  are 
the  normal  condition  of  China. 

One  may  say  :  Oh  yes  !  far  off  cows  have  long  horns.  These 
things  may  be  all  true,  but  these  people  are  not  like  us,  and 
what  applies  to  them  does  not  apply  to  us.  Well,  then,  let  us 
take  a  railroad  train  and  travel  southwest  for  a  few  days.  We 
will  soon  be  in  the  land  of  the  protean  cactus  and  of  the  Monte- 
zumas,  where  we  can  find  large  bunches  of  bananas  for  ten  cents, 
and  the  vanilla  bean  growing  almost  wild  among  the  branches 
of  trees.  Here,  that  every  prospect  pleases  except  man, 
for  during  the  winter  the  man,  enveloped  in  his  poncho, 
on  which,  in  his  pride,  he  bestows  a  goodly  portion  of  his 
means,  will  be  found  idly  spending  his  days  lolling  in  the  sun, 
and  during  the  summer  he  will  be  found  eating  melons  in  the 
shade,  spending  the  nights  of  both  seasons  in  gambling  or 
dancing,  while  the  woman  will  be  found  from  January  to  De- 
cember, and  from  morn  to  noon,  and  from  noon  to  dewy  eve, 
engaged  in  the  endless  task  of  grinding,  with  her  own  hands, 
corn  for  tortillas,  varied  by  the  equally  laborious  work  of  wash- 
ing clothes  by  the  side  of  a  running  stream  or  an  irrigating 
ditch.  In  this  land  so  highly  favored  by  nature  we  find, 
on  one  hand,  the  people  possessed  of  almost  nothing  save 
the  few  gifts  of  Providence,  while  on  the  other  hand  we  see 
hidalgos,  whose  possessions  are  of  such  vast  extent  that  one 
upon  a  good  horse  will  not  ride  across  the  length  or  breadth  of 
his  hacienda  during  a  long  summer's  day.  Extremes  of  the 
most  astonishing  character  will  be  met  with.  And  Mexico  is  a 
country  which  deliberately  prevents  her  people  from  sharing  thro' 
means  of  trade  the  advantages  that  other  portions  of  the  world 
have  to  offer  her  in  exchange  for  her  advantages.  Mexico  has 
been  an  apt  pupil  of  the  United  States,  or  rather  both  peoples 
have  been  apt  pupils  of  the  selfish  spirit  the  dog  exhibited, 
when  he  lost  the  substance  by  snapping  at  the  shadow.     Un- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  69 

wise  laws  undoubtedly  produce  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty 
in  Mexico. 

Let  us  take  now  a  civilized  country — Spain.  A  few  hun- 
dred years  ago  she  was  the  most  enterprising  and  powerful 
nation  in  Europe.  Her  flag  floated  over  more  territory  than 
does  that  of  Great  Britain  at  the  present  day.  Her  navigators 
brought  new  worlds  to  light,  and  her  soldiers  conquered  new 
and  strange  empires.  In  literature  and  in  art  she  was  as  cele- 
brated as  in  discovery  and  in  war.  Nothing  was  too  great, 
nothing  was  too  daring,  for  her  restless  sons.  In  small  barks 
they  braved  the  terrors  and  the  mysteries  of  unknown  seas,  and 
her  Pizarros  and  Cortezes  shrank  not  from  the  equal  mysteries 
and  terrors  of  unknown  continents.  They  dared  every  thing 
they  ventured  every  thing,  and  they  gained  every  thing,  and 
Spain,  as  said  above,  became  the  greatest  empire  of  modern 
times.  But  to  be  powerful  is  not  necessarily  to  be  wise,  and 
Spain,  in  her  pride  and  arrogance  and  ignorance,  became  ex- 
clusive, and  wished  and  endeavored  to  keep  to  herself  all  the 
advantages  of  the  new  order  of  things.  She  shut  herself  and 
her  possessions  out  from  the  world  and  endeavored  to  live 
within  herself.  She,  like  the  United  States,  wished  to  get  all 
and  to  keep  all.  She  said  to  the  other  nations,  as  the  United 
States  does  now,  be  off,  you  sha'n't  come  near  me.  I  don't 
want  any  of  your  advantages,  and  you  sha'n't  have  any  of  mine. 
Spain  was  wealthy  and  strong  and  this  unwise  course  did  not 
appear  to  affect  her  greatly  at  first,  but  after  a  while  she  began 
to  weaken  and  to  lose  first  one  thing  and  then  another,  till  at 
last,  after  the  lapse  of  a  couple  of  centuries,  she  had  fallen  so 
low  that  none  did  her  reverence.  In  the  meantime  the  people 
began  to  sink  into  poverty,  till  finally,  they  became,  perhaps, 
the  poorest  people  in  Europe.  But  while  the  people  be- 
came poorer  and  poorer,  the  great  lords  and  grandees  continued 
to  increase  in  wealth  and  power,  so  that  at  the  present  day  the 
population  is  divided  into  the  many,  with  neither  strength  nor 
intelligence  enough  to  protect  themselves  from  the  sweeping 


70  UNWISE  LAWS. 

ravages  of  cholera,  and  into  a  few  nobles,  whose  landed  estates 
are  equal  in  extent  to  counties,  and  whose  wealth  is  fabulous. 
Extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  abound  in  Spain,  and  Spain  is 
a  country  where  protection  runs  riot. 

The  most  enlightened  nation  in  the  world,  to  wit,  Great 
Britain,  also  exhibits  the  extremes  of  colossal  wealth  and  abject 
poverty,  and  yet  she  is  a  free-trade  country  where  no  restric- 
tions are  placed  on  commercial  intercourse  except  for  fiscal 
reasons.  How  is  this  ?  it  may  be  asked.  It  is  true  that  Great 
Britain  now  utterly  repudiates  protection,  but  it  was  not  always 
so,  for  up  to  about  1846  she  practised  protection  in  its  most 
rigid  form,  and  only  abandoned  it  in  order  to  avoid  a  revolu- 
tion that  would  have  swept  away  queen,  lords,  and  privileges 
of  every  description,  and  these  extremes  are  in  great  measure 
the  legacies  left  from  centuries  of  protection  of  the  most  op- 
pressive character. 

It  is  not  pretended  in  the  above  instances,  and  many  others 
that  might  be  cited,  that  protection  is  the  sole  parent  of  the 
numberless  ills  which  have  afflicted  and  which  still  afflict  man- 
kind; but  protection  is  the  chief  cause  of  these  extremes  of 
wealth  and  poverty,  for  protection  not  only  deprives  or  attem^Dts 
to  deprive  the  people  of  the  advantages  of  other  portions  of  the 
world,  but  by  preventing  commercial  intercourse,  it  lessens  the 
industry  and  the  productions  of  the  people,  for  the  reason  that 
they  cannot  find  a  market  for  what  they  make  in  excess  of  their 
own  wants,  and  they  therefore  do  not  produce  in  excess  of  their 
wants.  The  people  are  thus  impoverished  at  both  ends  :  first, 
by  not  producing  in  excess  of  their  own  wants  ;  and  second,  by 
having  to  pay  higher  prices  when  they  consume  the  produc- 
tions of  others,  because  others'  productions  are  small,  like  their 
own.  For  instance,  the  Indians  from  whom  we  derive  Indian  corn, 
scarcely  produced  enough  of  this  prolific  grain  to  supply  their 
own  scanty  wants,  because  there  was  no  demand  for  it,  while  we, 
their  successors,  produce  annually  about  1,750,000,000  bushels 
of  the  same  grain,  because  there  is  a  demand  for  it.     And  if 


UNWISE  LAWS.  71 

we  could  not  sell  or  profitably  consume  more  than  a  tenth  part 
of  this  vast  quantity,  how  soon  would  the  production  of  corn 
shrink  ninety  per  cent.?  Only  a  few  years,  two  or  three  at  the 
utmost.  So  protection  by  destroying  demand  at  once  lessens 
production  and  thus  causes  poverty. 

Although  protection  has  been  the  general  policy  of  the  United 
States,  from  its  birth  in  17SS,  it  is  only  within  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  that  protection,  in  its  most  destructive  form,  has 
overshadowed  the  land,  but  in  this  short  time  we  see  pregnant 
signs  of  its  unfailing  operation  in  the  production  of  extremes 
of  wealth  and  poverty. 

While  the  people  are  not  suffering  aytual  hunger,  we  think, 
no  merchant  who  is  familiar  with  their  condition  will  deny  that 
they  are  poor.  Whether  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  thrifty 
East,  where  manufactures  are  the  chief  interest,  or  to  the  Mid- 
dle States,  where  combinations  of  agriculture,  mining,  and  man- 
ufactures absorb  their  energies,  or  to  the  West,  which  is  princi- 
pally agricultural,  or  to  the  South,  which  also  draws  its  support 
mainly  from  the  soil,  we  think  there  can  be  but  one  intelli- 
gent answer,  and  that  answer  will  be,  the  people  are  not  only 
poor  but  they  are  in  debt  besides.  It  is  freely  admitted  that 
there  are  thousands  of  thrifty  people  everywhere  with  money 
in  bank  and  who  own  their  own  dwellings,  but  the  many  will 
be  found  to  be  leading  a  scuffling  existence,  dependent  upon 
credit  at  the  retail  stores,  and  their  dwellings,  when  they  hap- 
pen to  own  them,  shingled  with  mortgages.  And  if  this  be 
doubted,  the  truth  would  soon  be  evident  if  the  shop-keepers 
were  to  do  business  on  a  cash  plan,  as  they  should  do,  for  how- 
ever much  credit  should  be  made  use  of  in  the  wholesale  trans- 
action of  trade,  no  consumer  should  supply  his  individual 
wants  on  credit,  for  if  they  should  do  so,  stores  that  daily  were 
found  crowded  by  customers  buying  on  credit,  would  he  found 
as  deserted  as  the  path  to  heaven,  which  the  hymnist  repre- 
sents as  frequented  by  "here  and  there  a  traveller."  If  retail 
dealings  on  credit  were  abolished,  the  current  of  commerce 


72  UNWISE  LAWS. 

would  be  as  suddenly  stopped  as  are  the  rivulets  and  smaller 
streams  when  seized  by  a  biting  northwest  wind.  This,  of 
itself,  shows  the  poverty  of  the  people,  for  if  they  were  not 
poor  they  would  soon  learn  to  pay  cash,  and  the  change,  from 
cre'dit  to  cash,  would  produce  only  slight  inconvenience,  but  as 
things  are  at  present,  not  only  would  buying  and  selling  cease 
all  over  the  land,  but  the  merchants  would  lose  perhaps  three 
fourths  of  the  debts  already  on  their  books,  for  the  consumer 
pays  one  bill  and  immediately  makes  another,  leaving  him 
perpetually  in  the  debt  of  the  merchant. 

In  France,  and  in  Germany,  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
credit  in  retail  dealings  is  hardly  known,  and  it  should  be  equally 
unknown  here.  Then  when  employment  fails  or  when  sick- 
ness comes,  the  consumer  is  at  least  out  of  debt,  however  little 
he  may  have  laid  up,  but  here,  when  the  evil  day  comes,  the 
consumer  is  not  only  deeply  in  debt  to  the  retailer,  but  he  de- 
pends upon  the  retailer  carrying  him  till  he  gets  to  work  again. 
We  think  no  intelligent  merchant  will  deny  that  these  facts 
generally  prevail  throughout  the  country,  and  if  they  do  pre- 
vail they  are  indisputable  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the  people 
generally  are  poor — indeed  very  poor.  The  writer  can  speak 
for  one  very  large  section  of  the  country,  for  one  that  supplies 
the  great  media  of  the  foreign  exchanges,  and  he  knows  that 
the  people  are  very  poor.  He  knows  that  beyond  the  free  gift 
of  nature  in  the  form  of  a  warm  sun,  which  supplies  them  in 
great  part  with  house  and  raiment,  the  people  have  little  be- 
yond the  plainest  food,  and  as  for  the  ordinary  comforts  of 
carpets  ,  neat  table-ware,  and  genteel  furniture,  they  are  almost 
as  unknown  as  if  they  had  no  existence  at  all.  He  knows 
further  that  they  are  almost  universally  in  debt  to  the  extent  of 
their  ability  to  gain  credit,  notwithstanding  their  meagre  style 
of  living,  and  that  their  crops  are  generally  mortgaged  by  the 
time  the  first  furrow  is  turned  or  the  first  seed  planted.  In  the 
larger  villages  and  towns  the  people  make  a  better  appearance, 
although  it  is  mostly  on  credit,  but  the  towns  are  so  small  a 


UNWISE  LAWS.  73 

portion  of  the  community,  the  exception  is  immaterial.  For 
instance,  the  town  population  in  1880  of  Virginia  was  (in  towns 
of  4,000  and  upwards)  12  per  cent.,  of  North  Carolina  3I  per 
cent.,  of  South  Carolina  7  per  cent.,  of  Georgia  S  |)er  cent.,  and 
of  Mississippi  2\  per  cent. 

But  for  the  extremes  of  wealth  and  wretchedness  let  us  turn 
our  eyes  to  the  anthracite  regions  of  Pennsylvania,  where  the 
lordly  proprietors  of  collieries  seek  to  increase  their  already  co- 
lossal possessions  by  restricting  the  number  of  days  of  labor  of 
the  miserable  miner  so  that  the  price  of  coal  may  be  main- 
tained at  a  high  figure.  The  Molly  Maguires  are  as  direct  a 
result  of  the  oppressions  of  these  large  colliery  proprietors  as  is 
steam  the  direct  result  of  this  coal  suitably  applied  to  water. 
And  yet  these  same  proprietors,  Mr.  Gowen  at  their  head,  take 
great  credit  for  having  ])ut  down  this  monstrous  evil,  the  work 
of  their  own  hands.  When  people  are  well  used  they  are  happy, 
and  a  happy  people  have  never  been  known  to  instigate  and  to 
practise  assassination  and  midnight  murders. 

But  on  the  other  extreme  what  do  we  observe  ?  We  see  on 
every  hand  monstrous  fortunes,  utterly  beyond  the  accumula- 
tions of  healthy  growth,  acquired  in  a  short  time.  In  a  natural 
and  healthy  state  of  affairs,  the  wealth  of  a  country  does  not 
grow  with  a  rapidity  great  enough  to  justify  these  fortunes,  and 
they  can  be  acquired  only  by  investing  certain  persons  with  a 
portion  of  the  sovereignty  of  government,  by  enabling  them 
practically  to  lay  tribute  on  the  whole  body  of  citizens,  without 
any  of  the  responsibilities  of  government  ;  governments  never 
growing  rich  because  they  have  to  disburse  at  least  as  much  as 
they  receive,  but  these  individuals  having  nothing  to  spend  for 
public  purposes,  they  thereby  become  enormously  wealthy,  just 
as  governments  would  if  they  could  keep  what  they  collect. 
Or  they  are  acquired  by  speculating,  which  a  few  crafty  indi- 
viduals are  enabled  to  do  by  taking  advantage  of  the  speculat- 
ing spirit  which  protection  engenders,  and  who,  by  false  repre- 
sentations of  every  kind,  succeed  in  emptying  the  purses  of 


74  UNWISE  LAWS. 

sanguine  and  covetous  persons  into  their  own  capacious 
pockets.  For  this  reason  we  see  certain  portions  of  the 
country  sprinkled  over  with  milHonaires  many  times  over,  and 
with  hundreds  following  whose  wealth  would  have  been 
esteemed  fabulous  thirty  years  ago.     Vanderbilt,  with  his  two 

hundred  millions,  stands  out  prominent,  and  figuratively  sits 

« 
High  on  a  throne  of  royal  state  which  far 
Outshone  the  wealth  of  Ormus  and  of  Ind, 
Or  where  the  gorgeous  east,  with  richest  hand, 
Showers  on  her  kings  barbaric  pearl  and  gold. 

And  after  him  come  Gould,  Huntingdon,  Field,  Sage,  and 
many  others,  speculators  all,  who,  by  means  of  misrepresenta- 
tions and  deceptions,  have  not  only  fleeced  thousands  who 
were  quite  as  eager  for  wealth  without  earning  it  as  were 
they  but  who  were  not  as  shrewd,  but  have  also  robbed 
thousands  of  innocent  investors  who  placed  reliance  on  their 
statements.  And  here,  too,  are  the  bonanza  kings,  who  not 
only  reaped  immense  fortunes  by  the  actual  production  of  the 
precious  metals,  but  who  reaped  still  larger  fortunes  by  unload- 
ing on  the  public  when  they  knew  their  mines  were  exhausted. 
But  why  attempt  to  enumerate,  for  a  book  the  size  of  Webster's 
Dictionary  would  not  be  large  enough  to  enumerate  the  names 
of  the  immensely  wealthy,  together  with  a  history  of  the  methods 
by  which  these  fortunes  had  been  obtained  at  the  expense  of 
the  people.  Boston  has  its  millionaires,  so  has  Philadelphia, 
and  Pittsburg,  and  Cincinnati,  and  Chicago,  and  generally 
wherever  there  are  extensive  manufactures  there  will  be  found 
opulent  manufacturers  who  tower  above  their  workmen  and 
neighbors  like  the  giant  red-wood  trees  of  California,  or  like 
the  still  more  colossal  gum-trees  of  Australia,  which  are  said 
to  lift  their  majestic  crowns  five  hundred  feet  above  the  earth, 
tower  above  the  more  humble  but  still  lofty  vegetation  around 
them. 

The  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty  having  now  begun  with 


UNWISE  LAWS.  75 

US,  they  will  proceed  with  accelerating  rapidity,  for  as  the  poor 
become  poorer  they  will  be  less  able  to  bear  the  exactions  re- 
quired by  the  laws,  and  as  the  wealthy  become  wealthier  they 
will  be  stronger  not  only  to  insist  upon  the  discriminations  the 
laws  now  make,  but  also  to  enact  still  more  oppressive  laws, 
till,  within  the  lifetime  of  those  now  approaching  their  maturity, 
we  will  be  converted  from  a  democracy  into  a  plutocracy,  the 
most  odious  form  of  government  the  people  have  ever  seen,  and 
the  people  will  be  made  use  of  as  the  implements  of  their  own 
degradation.  The  only  escape  from  this  condition  is  the 
enactment  and  the  execution  of  impartial  laws,  and  that  happy 
state  cannot  arise  until  protection  is  utterly  swept  off  of  our 
statute  books.  Our  laws  cannot  be  part  free  and  part  pro- 
tective, which  means  restrictive  and  obstructive  ;  they  must  be 
free  or  prohibitive.  We  must  choose  to  be  China  or  England 
The  people  must 

Awake,  arise,  or  be  forever  fallen. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HOW    SO-CALLED    PROTECTIVE    LAWS   CAUSE    POVERTY,  STAGNA- 
TION,   AND    ISOLATION,    OR    REVOLUTION. 

Protection  is  a  beautiful  or  an  odious  idea  according  to 
the  connection  in  which  it  is  used.  When  one  walks  around 
the  borders  of  a  pond  with  shallows  about  the  margin  he  may 
at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  observe,  suspended  in  the  water, 
a  fish  as  motionless  and  as  solemn  as  a  sphinx,  and  although 
ordinarily  timid  at  the  approach  of  man,  it  is  now  fearless  and 
regardless  of  his  presence.  But  suddenly,  upon  the  approach 
of  another  fish,  see  how  (juickly  and  savagely  it  darts  upon  the 
intruder.  And  why  this  sudden  change  ?  Look  closer  and  you 
will  see  a  school  of  small  fry,  which  the  mother  is  carefully 
guarding,  and  it  was  to  protect  them  it  drove  the  marauder  off. 


^6  UNWISE  LAWS. 

This  is  protection,  and  the  idea  is  pleasing.  So  when  we  speak 
of  protecting  one's  family,  or  one's  friend,  or  one's  country, 
the  ideas,  associated  with  protection,  are  altogether  gratifying. 
But  suppose  we  speak  of  protecting  or  shielding  a  man  by 
means  of  public  authority  in  his  peculations,  as  when  the 
political  power  of  New  York  City  was  made  use  of  to  protect 
Tweed  and  his  confederates  in  the  wholesale  plunder  of  the 
city,  or  when  we  speak  of  social  influence  being  employed  to 
shield  one  from  the  effects  of  some  capital  crime,  or  when  of  a 
government  protecting  a  traitor  who  has  betrayed  his  country, 
as  Great  Britain  protected  Arnold  ;  then  the  idea  of  protection 
becomes  odious  and  repulsive.  Now  the  advocates  of  protec- 
tion have  seized  hold  of  the  agreeable  and  beneficial  side  of 
protection,  and  have  thereby  so  imposed  upon  the  better  side 
of  man  that  people,  when  protection  is  made  use  of,  immedi- 
ately associate  the  word  with  the  idea  of  a  father  protecting  a 
helpless  family  of  little  children  from  cold  and  hunger  and 
nakedness,  from  sickness,  suffering,  and  death.  Hence  the 
great  strength  of  the  so-called  protective  system  among  fair- 
minded,  sensible,  but  unthinking  people. 

But  let  us  see  what  protection  in  a  political  sense  really  is. 
Protection  must  be  something  good,  or  something  where  the 
good  overbalances  the  evil,  for  there  is  nothing  altogether  good 
or  altogether  bad,  or  it  must  be  something  where  the  evil  over- 
balances the  good,  or  it  must  be  something  where  the  good  and 
the  bad  neutralize  each  other.  It  must  necessarily  be  one  or 
the  other.  But  as  we  are  not  interested  in  any  thing  that  is 
neutral,  we  will  consider  only  the  good  or  the  bad  of  pro- 
tection. 

If  protection  is  good  it  must  be  something  that  increases  the 
happiness  and  the  well-being  of  mankind.  It  must,  for  in- 
stance, improve  the  facilities  for  intercourse  between  man  and 
man,  so  that  peoples  may  become  better  acquainted  with  each 
other,  and  thereby  learn  that  they  are  not  necessarily  enemies 
because  they  live  under  different  flags.     It  must,  too,  facilitate 


UNWISE  LAWS.  yj 

the  interchange  of  productions  between  different  peoples,  so 
that  those  who  raise  grain,  potatoes,  and  meat  may  obtain 
without  difficulty  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar,  and  vice  versa.  If  any 
natural  barriers  exist  it  must  see  that  they  are  overcome — that 
a  mountain  is  tunnelled,  a  river  bridged,  and  a  sea  crossed  by 
fast  steamers. 

If  protection  is  bad  it  must  be  something  that  puts  stumbling 
blocks  or  barriers  in  the  way  of  peoples  otherwise  friendly.  It 
must  make  people  say  to  each  other  :  We  do  not  desire  to  have 
any  thing  to  do  with  you.  We  prefer  to  eat  our  corn  bread 
and  fat  meat  unrelieved  by  any  of  the  good  things  you  raise. 
And  those  in  turn  who  raise  the  so-called  luxuries  of  life — the 
condiments,  the  spices,  the  sweets,  and  the  delicacies — say  to 
the  men  of  the  colder  countries  :  Keep  your  meat  and  your 
bread — so  each  party  suffers.  If  protection  is  bad  it  seals  the 
ports  or  opens  them  so  small  it  is  with  difficulty  they  can  be 
entered,  and  it  surrounds  the  borders  of  the  land  with  paid 
men  to  keep  out  what  the  neighboring  people  would  find 
profitable  to  exchange. 

Now  does  protection  offer  any  inducement  to  peoples  getting 
acquainted  with  each  other,  and  thereby  rubbing  off  prejudice  ? 
Does  protection  offer  any  facilities  for  peoples  interchanging 
the  various  advantages  that  each  country  possesses  ?  Does  it 
render  it  easy  for  a  farmer  who  has  one  hundred  bushels  of 
wheat  to  dispose  of  to  exchange  it  for  the  many  articles  he 
"daily  needs,  or  does  it  offer  any  facilities  to  the  manufacturer 
who  has  one  hundred  bales  of  cloth  to  exchange  it  for  what  he 
wants  ?  Does  protection  say  to  men  across  the  border  :  Come 
over  and  be  friendly,  and  bring  along  any  thing  you  have  to 
sell .''  All  of  these  things  are  beneficial,  but  does  protection 
invite  any  one  of  them  >  Not  a  single  one,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  builds  a  fence  around  the  country,  and  if  protection 
had  its  way  it  would  build  the  fence  so  high  that  only  a  bird 
could  get  over  it.  And  it  destroys  all  good  feeling  between 
peoples,  for  to  all  friendly  advances  it  returns  a  surly  answer 


78  UNWISE  LAWS. 

and  says  :  No  !  no  !  I  'II  have  nothing  to  do  with  your 
"  pauper  labor,"  or  I  don't  want  any  of  your  wormy  meat. 
And  so  matters  progress  till  bitterness  fills  the  heart ;  they  are 
ready  to  take  offence  on  the  slightest  or  on  no  occasion,  and 
large  armies  and  fleets  are  kept  ready  to  carry  on  the  wars  that 
frequently  follow  such  a  course. 

Well  then,  be  protection  good  or  bad,  if  it  is  good  for  the 
United  States  is  it  not  good  for  other  countries  ?  Further,  if 
protection  or  moderate  impediments  are  desirable,  why  is  not 
prohibition  or  unsurmountable  impediments  better  ?  Or  if  pro- 
hibition is  not  better  than  moderate  protection,  at  what  limit 
would  you  place  those  impediments  !  Suppose  we  say  let  ten  per 
cent,  represent  the  impediment.  Why  ten  ?  Well,  then,  twenty. 
Why  twenty  ?  Well,  then,  one  hundred.  Why  one  hundred  ?  If 
an  impediment  is  to  be  placed  why  not  make  it  total  ?  Or  if  not 
total  why  make  it  at  all  ?  It  is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  a  stop- 
ping-place between  zero  and  infinity,  or  in  a  more  colloquial 
phrase  between  "  neck  or  nothing."  As  in  the  case  of  a  woman's 
virtue,  there  can  be  no  middle  ground  between  purity  and 
vice.  The  essence  of  protection  is  prohibition.  Let  us,  there- 
fore, follow  prohibition  a  little  distance.  The  United  States 
takes  a  stand  and  proclaims  the  idea  that  home  industry  must 
be  protected,  and  to  that  end  enacts  that  not  a  pound  of  iron  or 
of  wool,  or  of  any  thing  else  that  our  people  make,  shall  come 
into  the  country.  Not  a  pound  of  rice  or  sugar,  not  an  orange, 
or  a  banana,  or  a  pineapple,  or  an  ounce  of  indigo,  because  the 
South  can  produce  all  these  things.  Not  a  blanket,  nor  a 
shawl,  nor  a  yard  of  silk,  not  a  bushel  of  salt,  or  of  coal,  for 
the  Middle  and  Eastern  States  can  produce  them.  Thus  we 
shut  out  all  foreign  competition,  for  unless  you  shut  out  all 
competition  you  do  not  protect. 

As  we  have  seen  in  previous  chapters,  this  works  admirably  at 
first,  for  we  give  new  work  to  people,  and  at  the  same  time  ex- 
port agricultural  productions  in  which  we  are  strong,  for  in  them 
consist  mainly  our  natural  advantages.     But  protection  being 


UNWISE  LAWS.  79 

good  for  us  it  must  needs  be  good  for  others,  for  if  not,  why  not  ? 
so  other  nations  adopt  the  protective  policy,  and  seeing  their 
people  import  food  and  raw  materials,  like  cotton,  tobacco,  lum- 
ber, petroleum,  etc.,  etc.,  they  say  these  things  must  be  produced 
at  home,  and  therefore  we  will  prohibit  their  entry  into  our  ports. 
So  presently  every  country  is  shut  up  in  its  own  borders,  and 
there  is  no  trade  of  any  kind,  for  if  protection  protects  one  it 
should  and  will  protect  all.  Well,  what  follows  ?  The  first 
effect  is,  of  course,  to  render  valueless  all  ships  that  had  been 
engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  and  to  destroy  all  the  industries 
that  built,  equipped,  and  maintained  these  vast  fleets.  Of 
course  all  personal  intercourse  ceases  also,  for  as  there  are  no 
ships  to  transport  them,  and  no  inducements  in  the  way  of 
profits  to  travel,  travellers  cease  to  move  to  and  fro.  Then 
comes  along  cessation  of  industry  in  these  great  occupations 
that  serve  to  swell  the  channels  of  foreign  exchanges.  The 
crop  of  cotton  at  once  sinks  from  a  supply  ample  enough  for 
the  world  to  merely  enough  for  the  home  demand,  and  the 
same  applies  to  tobacco,  to  grain,  to  meat,  to  petroleum,  etc., 
and  millions  are  reduced  from  active  and  industrious  pro- 
ducers to  hopeless  idlers,  because  there  is  no  demand  for  the 
fruits  of  their  labor.  Next  the  millions  of  spindles  and  looms, 
the  thousands  of  furnaces  and  shops,  and  the  multitudes  of 
factories  of  every  kind  that  supplied  the  millions  producing 
the  exportable  products  of  the  country,  find  their  usefulness 
gone,  because  the  demand  for  what  they  made  has  been  de- 
stroyed by  the  enforced  idleness  of  the  toilers  of  the  fields. 
And  then  the  enormous  system  of  railroads  shrinks  and 
shHvels  because  there  is  little  or  nothing  to  transport.  The 
banks  soon  follow,  for  there  is  little  to  exchange,  and  the  two 
hundred  millions  of  Vanderbilt,  and  the  one  hundred  millions 
of  Gould,  and  the  scores  of  millions  of  thousands  of  others, 
vanish  as  the  morning  mists  before  the  sun.  Poverty  becomes 
general  because  there  is  no  inducement  to  labor,  there  being 
no  demand,  and  isolation  prevails  over  the  face  of  the  globe. 


80  UNWISE  LAWS. 

Instead  of  one  China  there  are  as  many  Chinas  as  there  were 
formerly  flags,  and  the  desolation  of  utter  stagnation  broods 
upon  the  face  of  all  mundane  affairs. 

This  is  the  logical  result  of  protection.  This  may  be  so, 
some  may  reply,  but  we  will  never  see  protection  carried  to 
its  logical  result.  It  is  to  be  hoped  we  never  will,  and  it  is  most 
probably  we  never  shall,  for  intelligence  is  a  death  blow  to  all 
such  barbarous  expedients,  and  as  intelligence  is  spreading  we 
may  rather  hope  to  see  the  day  when  the  shackles  of  protection 
shall  be  stricken  off  the  limbs  of  nations  and  of  individuals  too  ; 
but  to  see  protection  carried  to  its  logical  result  we  have  only 
to  look  at  China,  which,  from  time  immemorial,  has  vigorously 
forbidden  all  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  and  with  what 
results  ?  Although  the  Chinese  Empire  occupies  a  territory  as 
large  as  the  United  States,  and  occupies  some  of  the  fairest 
regions  on  earth,  its  people  have  been  reduced  to  such  a  state 
of  poverty  they  are  only  one  degree  removed  from  starvation, 
and  the  government  is  so  weak  the  second-rate  powers  of 
Europe  are  able  to  compel  it  to  submit  to  treaties  utterly  re- 
pugnant to  all  their  most  cherished  social  and  political  ideas. 
And  China  is  so  stagnant  and  dormant  that  their  manners  and 
customs  do  not  materially  change  during  the  course  of  centu- 
ries, and  they  still  pursue  agriculture  and  the  arts — science  they 
have  none — in  the  same  manner  their  ancestors  did  five  hun- 
dred years  ago.  Japan,  though  on  a  smaller  scale,  was  a  sim- 
ilar example  of  protection  carried  to  its  logical  conclusion,  and 
when  its  ports  were  opened  at  the  mouth  of  the  cannon,  there 
was  found  a  stagnant  and  degraded  multitude,  lorded  over  by 
a  rapacious  nobility,  who  knew  no  law  but  their  own  unbridled 
will. 

If  protection  is  good  for  nations,  those  nations  that  practise 
protection  should  be  the  most  advanced  and  most  prosperous, 
and  those  that  practise  free  trade  ought  to  be  the  most  back- 
ward and  the  most  wretched.  What  says  experience  ?  Which 
are  the  states  that  have  placed  the  most  impediments  in  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  8l 

way  of  commercial  intercourse,  or,  in  other  words,  have  carried 
the  idea  of  protection  to  its  farthest  extreme  ?  They  are  Spain 
and  Portugal  in  Europe,  and  Mexico  in  the  New  World.  All 
these  nations  are  situated  in  the  most  fruitful  portions  of  the 
globe,  where  nature  abundantly  supplements  the  labors  of  man, 
and  they  all  produce  the  most  valuable  articles  of  commerce. 
If  they  had  not  found  the  open  sesame  of  protection,  but  had 
simply  followed  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  and  allowed 
tfieir  people  to  buy  and  sell  where  they  chose,  they  ought,  with 
their  superior  natural  advantages,  to  surpass  in  wealth  all  other 
nations,  but  having  discovered  a  box,  the  opposite  of  Pan- 
dora's, which  lets  loose  upon  these  countries  all  the  countless 
blessings  of  protection,  their  advance  over  free-trading  coun- 
tries ought  to  be  immeasurable.  But  is  this  the  case  ?  On  the 
contrary,  the  people  of  all  these  countries  are  the  poorest,  the 
least  intelligent,  and  the  least  progressive  of  the  whole  brother- 
hood of  nations.  They  are  enveloped  in  the  chains  of  ignor- 
ance, sloth,  and  superstition,  and  what  is  worse  they  have  no 
desire  to  throw  them  off.  It  may  be  said  that  Spain,  Portugal 
and  Mexico  are  Catholic  countries,  and  for  that  reason  they 
are  steeped  in  poverty  and  indolence.  But  this  can  hardly  be, 
for  Spain  and  Portugal  were  Catholic  countries  when  the  Pope 
divided  between  them  all  the  new  worlds,  both  eastern  and  west- 
ern, which  their  enterprise  had  discovered  and  their  valor 
had  conquered.  And  Belgium  is  also  a  Catholic  country,  but 
she  is  highly  prosperous.  No,  it  is  not  religion  that  makes 
them  what  they  are,  but  it  is  so-called  protection  which  blindly 
and  obstinately  cuts  them  off  from  all  the  advantages  the  world 
at  large  has  to  offer  them. 

France  is  also  a  country  which  carries  protection  to  extremes, 
but  she  is  saved  from  feeling  the  full  effects  of  the  evils  protec- 
tion brings  in  its  train,  because  her  people  carry  the  virtue  of 
economy  to  the  extreme  of  parsimony,  and  they  display  an  in- 
dustry unparalleled  among  men  ;  but  notwithstanding  these  two 
cardinal  virtues,  the  people  of  France  are  really  poor,  and  their 


82  UNWISE  LAWS. 

system  of  protection  has  so  weakened  them  they  fell  an  easy 
prey  to  the  prowess  of  Germany.  If  France  availed  herself  of 
the  advantages  that  other  nations  have  to  offer  and  devoted 
herself  exclusively  to  the  cultivation  of  the  many  things  in  which 
Frenchmen  undoubtedly  excel,  she  would  soon  regain  the 
proud  position  from  which  she  seems  irrevocably  to  have 
fallen. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  free-trade  Great  Britain,  and 
what  do  we  find  here  ?  We  find  the  most  industrious,  the  most 
intelligent,  the  most  enterprising,  and  the  richest  people  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Their  little  island  is  not  only  the  workshop 
of  the  world  but  it  is  the  banking  house  also.  Its  influence  ex- 
tends to  every  quarter  of  the  world.  It  clothes  the  people,  it 
builds  their  railroads,  and  it  furnishes  their  ships.  All  eyes  are 
turned  to  England,  and  when  any  people  desires  works  beyond 
their  ability  to  be  done,  the  appeal  is  made  at  once  to  England, 
and  she  as  quickly  responds.  Though  the  smallest  of  nations, 
she  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  powerful  and  most  beneficent. 
And  why  ?  Simply  because  she  is  wise  and  has  cast  aside  the 
shackles  she  so  late  as  1848  gloried  in.  She  now  stands  erect 
and  invites  the  whole  world  to  bring  her,  freely  and  with- 
out stint  all  the  advantages  they  have  to  offer,  and  that 
she  will  as  freely  buy,  paying  in  cash,  or  in  goods,  as  the 
sellers  may  desire.  By  this  means  she  buys  at  the  cheapest 
rate  whatever  the  world  has  to  offer,  and  getting  her  goods 
cheap  she  is  enabled  to  sell  them  unaltered,  or  changed  into 
fabrics  or  wares,  cheaper  than  others,  and  she  thus  secures  the 
trade  of  the  world  at  large.  She  places  no  impediments  in  the 
way  of  exchange  or  of  commercial  intercourse,  and  when  she  has 
to  raise  revenue  she  does  it  by  laying  taxes  with  a  view  to 
revenue  only,  discarding  even  the  subterfuge,  which  our  re- 
formers avail  themselves  of,  to  wit  :  laying  taxes  with  a  view 
to  incidental  protection. 

Now  look  upon  the  two  pictures.  On  one  hand,  indolence, 
poverty,  stagnation  and — protection.     On  the  other,  life,  enter- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  83 

prise,  wealth  and — free  trade.  As  Elijah  said  to  the  people  on 
one  occasion  :  Choose  ye  whom  ye  will  serve,  God  or  Baal. 
So  fellow  countrymen,  make  your  choice  between  protection 
and  ultimate  poverty,  or  free  trade  and  unbounded  prosperity. 
Having  now  traced  protection  in  its  relations  or  effects  be- 
tween nations,  let  us  now  follow  it  in  some  of  its  domestic 
aspects. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

HOW  SO-CALLED    PROTECTION    LAWS    CAUSE    POVERTY,  STAGNA- 
TION,   AND    ISOLATION,    OR    REVOLUTION — CONTINUED. 

Granting  that  protection  against  the  trade  of  foreign 
nations  is  beneficial,  granting  that  if  it  is  good  for  the  United 
States  to  shut  out  the  manufactured  goods  of  Great  Britain,  it 
must  be  equally  good  for  Great  Britain  to  shut  out  our  cotton, 
our  grain,  our  meats,  our  tobacco,  our  petroleum,  etc.,  which 
would  have  the  effect,  if  applied  generally  between  nations  ; 
and  if  good  between  two  nations,  the  same  should  apply  to  all 
nations, — to  destroy  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  world,  and 
therefore  to  relegate  to  a  state  of  idleness  all  those  engaged  in 
producing  the  great  staples  of  commerce — granting,  I  say,  that 
protection  is  good  between  nations,  it  must  be  good  when  ap- 
plied between  the  States  composing  the  United  States.  For  if 
not  good,  why  is  it  not  ?  We  are  not  regarding  this  matter  in 
a  legal  light,  for  we  well  know  any  impediment  placed  in  the 
way  of  domestic  intercourse  is  unlawful.  Something  may  be 
perfectly  legal,  and  that  something  may  at  the  same  time  be 
very  injurious.  So  we  examine  this  system  in  the  light  of 
good  and  bad,  and  inquire  again,  if  it  is  good  between  nations 
why  is  it  not  good  between  States  ?  Here  we  have  a  country 
extending  almost  from  arctic  to  tropical  regions,  and  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  the  variations  between  the  emi)loy- 
ments  and  the  interests  of  Maine  and  of  Florida,  or  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  California,  are  certainly  as  great  as  between  the 


84  UNWISE   LAWS. 

United  States  and  any  foreign  country  whatever,  and  the  mere 
fact  of  being  comprised  within  the  boundaries  of  the  same 
country  does  not  alter  in  the  least  the  beneficial  or  injurious 
effects  of  protection. 

Here  are  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  on 
the  one  hand,  manufacturing  all  kinds  of  textile  and  metal 
and  other  goods,  and  raising  not  enough  food  to  support  their 
people  one  month  out  of  the  twelve  ;  and  there,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina,  produc- 
ing grain,  tobacco,  cotton,  and  naval  stores,  far  in  excess  of  their 
needs,  and  not  enough  manufactures  to  supply  one  tenth  of 
their  necessities.  If  variation  of  employments  and  interests, 
if  diversities  of  climates,  and  if  differences  of  character  are 
grounds  for  protective  legislation,  here,  surely,  is  a  field  for 
the  most  ample  application  of  this  beneficent  principle  ;  and  if 
this  principle  is  good  anywhere  it  ought  to  apply  with  greatest 
force  between  these  two  groups  of  States.  As  we  have  said,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  fact  of  being  under  the  same  government  to 
affect  the  operation  of  this  principle.  If  it  is  beneficial  to  the 
whole  country — and  in  considering  this  matter  we  must  not  fix 
our  attention  on  one  small  spot,  and  ignore  all  the  rest  of  the 
country — for  the  first  group  of  States  to  shut  out  the  manufac- 
tured goods  which  England  can  furnish  cheaper  than  they  can, 
why  is  it  not  equally  beneficial  for  the  second  group  of  States  to 
exclude  the  manufactures  which  the  first  group  can  furnish 
cheaper  than  the  second  group  ?  Or  take  a  larger  illustration  : 
Say  the  maritime  States  against  the  inland,  and  vice  versa,  or 
the  Atlantic  slope  versus  the  Pacific.  All  these  divisions  have 
interests  and  sentiments  diverge  enough  to  constitute  them 
separate  countries.  Thus,  protection  being  good  between  na- 
tions, must  be  good  between  the  different  portions  of  this  coun- 
try, and  custom-houses  being  beneficent  institutions  along  our 
sea-coast  and  inland  boundaries,  it  must  be  equally  benefi- 
cial to  have  them  between  North  and  South,  and  between  East 
and  West.     As   in  Europe,  whenever   one   passes   from   one 


UNWISE  LAWS.  85 

country  to  another,  luggage  and  merchandise  must  be  exam- 
ined to  see  whether  they  shall  he  allowed  to  enter,  so  when 
one  goes  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  when  he  reaches 
the  watershed  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  he 
should  be  met  and  examined  by  a  custom  ofificer  ;  and  again, 
when  he  reaches  the  Mississippi,  the  true  dividing  line  between 
East  and  West,  he  should  be  examined  by  another  set ;  and 
again,  when  he  crosses  the  Rocky  Mountains,  he  should  be 
met  by  another  set  still,  all  with  the  same  object  in  view,  to 
find  out  whether  the  traveller  has  any  thing  that  should  not  be 
allowed  to  cross  the  boundary.  And  the  same  with  goods  and 
merchandise,  in  trains  or  in  vessels.  All  these  impediments 
are  beneficial,  for  protection  is  beneficial,  and  they  are  protec- 
tive, and  when  the  impediments  are  totally  obstructive,  so  much 
the  better. 

Now  the  manufacturers  of  Massachusetts  say  the  products  of 
the  looms  and  factories  of  Great  Britain  interfere  with  us  and 
curtail  our  profits.  Shut  them  out.  Why  ?  Because  it  benefits 
the  country.  We  grant  it,  say.  Then  the  manufacturers  of 
Virginia,  finding  that  the  manufacturers  of  New  England  break 
them  down  as  fast  as  they  start,  make  the  same  demand  against 
Massachusetts  that  Massachusetts  made  against  Great  Britain. 
And  why  ?  On  the  same  plea,  because  it  benefits  the  country. 
Is  not  the  plea  as  valid  and  as  weighty  in  the  case  of  Virginia 
as  in  the  case  of  Massachusetts  ?  If  the  country  is  benefited 
by  Massachusetts  making  goods,  is  it  not  equally  benefited  by 
Virginia  making  them  ?  The  plea  may  be  offered  that  Massa- 
chusetts can  make  them  cheaper  than  Virginia,  therefore  the 
country  is  benefited  by  Massachusetts  making  them.  Granting 
this,  but  cannot  Great  Britain  make  them  cheaper  than  either  ? 
and  if  the  country  is  benefited  by  Massachusetts  making  them 
rather  than  Virginia,  is  not  the  country  more  benefited  by 
having  Great  Britain  make  them  than  either  ?  But  this  is 
slightly  anticipating. 

Protection  being  good  between  foreign  nations  it  must,  of 


86  UNWISE  LAWS. 

course,  be  good  at  home.  So,  then,  let  us  now  show  the 
operation  of  protection  at  home.  Under  the  shadow  of  the 
glorious  stars  and  stripes  there  dwell,  in  peace  and  happiness, 
thirty-eight  distinct  communities,  all  differing,  more  or  less,  in 
climate,  soil,  and  natural  advantages,  and  some  so  diverse  from 
others  as  to  be  almost  antagonistic.  Some  of  these  States  are 
manufacturing,  some  mining,  some  mixed,  but  most  agricul- 
tural, and  they  are  all  pursuing  the  callings  they  find  most 
profitable.  Under  the  teachings  of  the  New  England  and 
Pennsylvania  school  of  protectionists,  the  duty,  and  the 
beauty,  and  the  utility  of  manufactures  have  been  so  insisted 
upon,  a  large  portion  of  the  public  devoutly  believe,  and 
one  of  the  great  political  parties  dividing  the  country  has  crys- 
tallized the  idea,  though  in  different  language  in  their  platform, 
that  the  great  duty  of  man  is  not  to  "glorify  God  and  enjoy 
him  forever,"  but  to  manufacture  goods.  New  England  is  al- 
most exclusively  manufacturing,  but  having  inculcated  the 
idea  of  the  duty  of  man  being  to  manufacture  goods,  we  will 
say  that  the  people  of  a  number  of  States,  fully  agreeing  with 
Massachusetts,  determine  to  do  their  whole  duty  in  this  re- 
spect, and  they  therefore  set  up  manufactures  of  various  kinds. 
But  after  a  short  trial  of  performing  their  sacred  duty,  they  find 
they  are  broken  down  by  the  competition  of  New  England. 
But  having  learnt  from  New  England  not  only  the  sacred  duty  of 
manufacturing,  but  also  the  equally  sacred  duty  of  protection, 
they  put  in  practice  protection  of  their  own  industries,  and 
they  vigorously  exclude  the  manufactures  of  New  England. 
Of  course.  New  England  sets  up  a  howl  as  vigorous  as  that  of 
Satan,  when  all  the  hollow  deep  resounded,  but  the  people  re- 
ply :  If  it  benefits  the  country  for  New  England  to  be  protected 
against  Old  England,  it  must  equally  benefit  the  country  for 
Ohio,  or  Illinois,  or  Nebraska  to  protect  itself  against  New 
England.  And  there  can  be  no  reply  to  this.  So  they  exclude 
New  England  manufactures,  and  as  example  is  contagious, 
all  the  States  follow,  and  New  England  is  left  to  supply  only 


UNWISE  LAWS.  87 

her  own  market.  Of  course  bitterness  fills  the  heart  of  New 
England  when  she  sees  her  factories  idle,  her  shops  shut,  and  her 
people  out  of  employment.  And  then,  too,  the  same  principle 
that  makes  the  States  jealous  of  New  England,  makes  them 
jealous  of  each  other.  And  thus  we  have  Ohio  hating  Indi- 
ana, Illinois  hating  Wisconsin,  and  finally  the  whole  thirty- 
eight  States  in  a  condition  of  chronic  irritation  and  isolation, 
just  as  prior  to  186 1  there  was  constant  irritation  and  hostility 
along  the  border  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States. 

But  then  in  each  State  there  are  a  great  many  counties  and 
cities,  and  each  county  and  city  has  the  same  natural  rights 
that  the  country  at  large  and  the  States  have.  The  central 
government  protects  the  whole  country,  the  State  protects  its 
inhabitants,  and  the  cities  and  counties  protect  their  citizens — 
the  country  having  no  right  to  oppress  the  State,  the  State  no 
right  to  oppress  its  cities  and  counties,  and  the  cities  and 
counties  no  right  to  oppress  its  citizens.  Now,  then,  here  are 
two  cities  interfering  with  each  other,  and  one,  say  Rochester, 
goes  to  its  city  council  and  says  protect  me  against  Syracuse. 
But  we  can't  do  it,  says  the  city  council.  Oh  yes  you  can, 
says  Rochester,  for  have  we  not  been  taught  for  years  that 
protection  is  beneficial,  and  does  not  the  country  at  large 
practise  protection.  So,  using  the  arguments  of  New  England 
and  the  practice  of  the  government,  Rochester  gets  protected 
from  Syracuse.  While  New  York  was  protecting  its  citizens 
against  the  competition  of  New  England  it  seemed  all  right, 
and  although  there  was  bitterness  between  New  England  and 
New  York  because  New  England  was  shut  out,  there  was  peace 
and  contentment  among  the  citizens  of  New  York. 

But  now  comes  an  extension  of  the  principle  of  protection, 
and  Rochester  protects  herself  against  Syracuse,  and  as  we  know 
that  example  is  catching,  all  the  large  cities  avail  themselves  of 
the  beneficent  principle  of  protection,  and  hence  there  speedily 
sjjrings  up  bitterness  and  hostility  between  them,  and  as  the 
smaller  towns  and  villages  adopt  the  same  blessed  principle, 


88  UNWISE  LAWS. 

the  whole  State  itself  is  segregated  into  numberless  little 
sections,  all  jealous  and  envious  of  each  other,  and  all  bitterly 
hostile.  There  is,  of  course,  no  intercourse  between  each 
other,  for  they  have  learnt  that  the  highest  duty  of  man  is  to 
manufacture  goods,  and  they  are  all  supplying  their  own  wants 
among  themselves,  and,  of  course,  there  being  no  travelling 
and  no  excbange  of  merchandise,  there  is  no  use  for  railroads, 
so  the  immense  armies  required  to  run  the  railroads  are  thrown 
out  of  employment,  and  the  railroads  themselves  speedily  fall 
into  decay,  and  poverty  and  isolation  overspread  the  whole 
land.  But  this  beneficent  principle  has  not  yet  worked  out  all 
its  legitimate  results.  We  must  come  nearer  to  the  unit.  The 
cities  having  protected  themselves,  the  different  streets  demand 
protection,  for  if  protection  is  good  in  the  aggregate  it  must 
necessarily  be  good  in  its  smallest  details,  and  the  different 
streets  having  obtained  protection,  the  separate  merchants  in 
the  same  line  on  the  same  streets  also  demand  protection. 
And  then  again  the  different  trades  and  callings  demand  pro- 
tection, the  carpenters  demanding  that  none  shall  be  allowed 
to  learn  the  trade  but  sons  of  carpenters,  and  the  artificers  and 
workmen  of  every  branch  demand  the  same  thing.  As  nobody 
now  can  join  any  other  calling  but  the  one  he  is  engaged  in, 
every  one  must  continue,  from  father  to  son  and  so  on  eternally, 
in  the  same  occupation.  And  thus  will  be  established  caste, 
and  thus  have  been  established  the  castes  of  India,  where  every 
person  is  restricted,  under  the  most  extreme  social  penalties, 
to  the  occupation  his  ancestors  have  pursued  from  time 
immemorial. 

In  considering  nations  or  peoples  we  are  almost  sure  to  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  they  are  made  up  of  units,  made  up  of  in- 
dividual men,  and  we  are  almost  equally  certain,  to  invest  the 
nation  with  a  certain  entity  inherent  within  itself.  We  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  the  nation  is  only  as  the  individual  com- 
ponents are.  If  they  are  individually  free  or  prosperous,  then 
the   country   is   a   free   country,   like  Great   Britain   and  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  89 

United  States,  and  is  prosperous.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
people  individually  are  in  a  stagnant  or  decaying  condition, 
then  the  nation  will  be  likewise  stagnant  or  in  a  state  of  deca- 
dence. Although  these  facts  are  universally  acknowledged,  we 
are  altogether  prone  to  overlook  them.  But  they  are  mentioned 
to  impress  upon  the  reader  the  necessity  of  observing  the  bearing 
of  laws  or  institutions  on  the  units  of  society  in  order  to  per- 
ceive the  benefits  or  the  injuries  resulting  from  these  laws.  So 
we  show  the  bearing  of  protective  laws  by  bringing  them  down 
to  the  individual,  and  if  these  effects  are  found  to  be  good,  then 
protection  is  beneficial  and  should  be  maintained  ;  but  if  these 
effects  are  found  to  be  bad,  then  protection  is  injurious  and 
should  be  uprooted. 

Well,  then,  let  us  now  begin  at  protection  in  its  international 
aspect,  and  bring  it  down  to  the  unit. 

If  protection  by  the  United  States  against  foreign  nations  is 
beneficial,  then,  of  course,  protection  by  foreign  nations  against 
the  United  States  is  also  beneficial.  In  other  words,  as  inter- 
national protection  leads  to  obliteration  of  international  inter- 
course, therefore  destruction  of  general  foreign  commerce  is 
beneficial.  Again  if  international  protection  is  beneficial,  then 
inter-state  protection  must  be  beneficial  also.  And  as  inter-state 
protection  cuts  up  all  domestic  intercouse,  therefore  destruc- 
tion of  all  the  railroads,  all  the  steamboats,  all  the  telegraphs, 
which  are  mere  instruments  for  facilitating  commerce,  is 
beneficial.  Again  if  inter-state  protection  is  beneficial,  then 
inter-county,  inter-village,  inter-city  protection  must  be  also 
beneficial,  therefore  the  destruction  of  all  neighborly,  all 
friendly  intercourse  and  commerce  must  be  beneficial  likewise. 
And  if  inter-county  and  inter-town  protection  is  beneficial,  then 
inter-street,  and  further  inter-individual  protection  must  be 
beneficial  also,  and  finally  with  what  is  left  of  the  intercourse 
and  commerce  of  mankind,  it  must  be  beneficial  to  restrict 
each  man  to  one  occupation,  and  that  the  occupation  that  his 
ancestors  for  centuries  have  followed.     And  therefore  caste  is 


90  UNWISE  LAWS. 

beneficial.  And  as  all  these  things  lead  to  Avars,  through  the 
enmities  created  by  harassing  regulations  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  intercourse  between  neighbors,  and  to  stagnation, 
poverty,  isolation,  and  death,  it  is  beneficial  for  countries  like 
the  East,  like  Central  and  Western  Asia,  like  Arabia,  like 
Northern  Africa,  like  the  old  Roman  world,  to  be  reduced 
from  populous  thriving  and  wealthy  communities  to  the  state 
of  utter  desolation  and  wretchedness,  that  has  brooded  upon 
them  for  many  centuries  past.  We  have  descended  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom.  Now  let  us  ascend  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top. 

If  caste  is  injurious,  then  inter-county  and  inter-town  protec- 
tion is  injurious,  then  inter-state  protection  is  injurious,  and 
finally  international  protection  is  injurious.  If  it  is  injurious 
to  place  obstacles  in  the  path  of  intercourse  between  neighbors 
in  the  county  and  town,  it  is  also  injurious  to  place  them  in  the 
way  of  intercourse  between  states,  and  it  is,  in  like  manner,  in- 
jurious to  place  them  in  the  path  of  intercourse  between  nations. 
For  instance,  Central  New  York  is  the  great  seat  of  the  cheese 
industry  of  the  United  States.  If  it  is  injurious  for  the  Western 
States,  which  also  make  cheese,  or  for  the  Southern  States, 
which  do  not  make  cheese,  to  place  impediments  in  the  way  of 
cheese  entering  these  States  ;  if  it  is  injurious  for  the  Eastern 
States  to  place  impediments  in  the  way  of  the  grain  and  meat 
of  the  Western  States  from  entering  their  bounds  and  supply- 
ing the  people  with  cheap  food,  then  it  is  equally  injurious  for 
the  United  States  to  place  impediments  of  any  kind  in  the  way 
of  foreign  nations  selling  us  what  they  produce,  for  it  is  certain 
that  our  people  will  not  buy  their  goods  unless  they  find  it  to 
their  advantage.  The  country  is  not  a  separate  thing  from  the 
individual,  and  if  the  individual  is  benefited,  then  the  country 
is  benefited,  and  if  whole  classes  of  the  community  are  bene- 
fitted by  the  use  of  foreign  goods,  then  the  country  inevitably 
thrives.  Leave  the  people  free  to  buy  what  it  is  to  their  in- 
terest to  buy,  and  we  may  be  sure  they  will  not  buy  foreign 


UNWISE  LA  IFS. 


91 


goods  unless  it  is  to  their  advantage  to  do  so  ;  and  surely  one 
can  hardly  contend  with"  any  fairness  that  the  country  is  bene- 
fited by  requiring  the  individual  to  buy  inferior  and  dear 
articles,  and  the  very  fact  that  he  does  not  buy  them  is  proof 
that  they  are  either  inferior  or  high,  because  they  are  made  at 
home. 

Having  now  clearly'  proved  that  protection  leads  to  stagna- 
tion, poverty,  and  isolation,  we  will  add  a  few  words  on  the 
subject  of  protection  causing,  in  the  efforts  of  mankind  to  rid 
itself  of  its  destroying  effects,  revolution. 

Protection  is  not  merely  the  shutting  out  of  foreign  goods 
because  they  are  supposed  to  injure  home  people,  but  it  is  also 
an  inequality  of  any  kind  produced  by  the  operation  of  statute 
law.  It  is  protection  when  one  or  more  occupations  are  singled 
out  for  taxation,  when  other  occupations  are  left  untouched,  or 
when  they  are  taxed  at  a  rate  higher  than  others.  It  is  also 
protection  when  certain  classes,  such  as  the  nobility  and  clergy 
in  France,  prior  to  the  Revolution,  are  relieved  from  taxation 
altogether,  or  when  the  rate  imposed  is  less  than  the  average. 
But  generally  whenever  protection  against  foreign  goods  is 
found  to  prevail,  then  protection  in  all  ics  phases  is  found  most 
to  flourish. 

Protection  in  its  essence  being  found  to  be  inequality,  for  if 
we  strip  protection  of  the  favors  it  grants  to  some  but  does  not 
grant  to  all,  it  would  die  at  once  for  want  of  interest  of  its  for- 
mer advocates,  the  effect  of  it  is,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  former 
chapter,  to  produce  extremes  and  to  end  in  prostration  and 
paralysis.  Some  nations  yield  with  little  or  no  resistance  to 
the  injurious  effects  of  protection,  and  they  gradually  sink  into 
a  state  of  lethargy  and  impoverishment  ;  while  others,  on  the 
contrary,  finally  struggle  against  these  effects,  with  the  result 
that  they  are  gotten  rid  of  by  agitation  carried  to  the  point  of 
revolution,  but  avoided  by  the  yielding  and  surrender  of  the 
protected  interests,  or  the  injurious  effects  of  protection 
cannot   be    gotten   rid    of   by  agitation,  and  then    revolution^ 


92  UNWISE  LAWS. 

with  all  its  horrors,  overthrows  the  government,  with  violence 
and  bloodshed.  History  is  full  of-  revolutions  caused  by 
unequal  laws  protecting  whole  classes  at  the  expense  of 
the  community  at  large,  but  it  will  be  only  necessary  to 
mention  two  or  three  examples.  The  first  shall  be  of  a  peace- 
ful revolution,  but  it  would  have  been  a  violent  and  bloody  one 
if  the  resistance  of  protected  and  privileged  interests  had  con- 
tinued. It  is  the  example  of  England,  that  great  storehouse  to 
us  of  history  teaching  by  example.  Under  the  influence  of 
protection  and  privilege  the  population  of  England  had,  in  the 
years  between  1840  and  '46,  been  reduced  to  such  an  extreme 
state  of  poverty  and  degradation  that  starvation  actually  stared 
the  people  in  the  face,  and  the  distress  was  so  great  the  people 
were  prepared  for  revolution  in  its  worst  phase,  for  no  change 
could  be  an  aggravation  of  the  distress  then  prevailing  amongst 
them.  The  aristocracy,  with  the  Iron  Duke  at  its  head,  sat 
upon  the  safety-valve,  obstinately  opposing  change,  and  the 
whole  structure  of  government  was  on  the  point  of  being  over- 
whelmed, when  Sir  Robert  Peel,  preferring  country  to  party, 
forsook  the  standard  of  protection,  joined  practically  the  party 
of  Cobden  and  the  reformers,  granted  the  demands  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  thus,  through  means  of  wisdom  and  patriotism,  pre- 
served England  from  a  bloody  and  violent  revolution.  In  this 
instance,  Avisdom  was  more  powerful  than  the  sword. 

France  is  a  memorable  example  of  resistance  to  reforms,  of 
obstinately  and  blindly  insisting  upon  the  protection  of  the 
nobility — and  in  France  all  children  of  noble  families  were 
nobles — and  the  priesthood  from  taxes  of  any  kind,  for  they 
paid  not  a  dollar  toward  the  wasteful  expenditures  of  extrava- 
gant governments,  besides  enjoying  many  other  special  privi- 
leges, precipitating  after  a  century  or  more  of  oppression  the 
most  dreadful  revolution  known  in  the  annals  of  history.  We 
will  cite  another  example  of  protection  leading  to  revolution, 
and  that  shall  be  at  home,  and  familiar  to  all.  It  shall  be  the  ex- 
ample of  our  own  country.     Slavery  is  but  protection  in  its 


UNWISE  LAWS.  93 

most  extreme  form — it  is  prohibition.  For  it  is  an  utter  denial 
of  all  rights,  except  such  as  the  master  may  choose  to  give  to  a 
fellow-man  in  the  position  of  a  slave.  The  South  cherished 
slavery,  for  it  was  a  system  of  inequality  very  pleasing  to  human 
nature.  But  the  time  had  come  when  slavery  had  to  cease,  for 
the  enlightened  sentiment  of  the  world  had  irrevocably  con- 
demned it.  The  South,  however,  saw  not  the  handwriting  on 
the  wall,  heard  not  the  knell  of  fate  strike  the  hour,  and  it 
blindly  went  to  war  to  preserve  slavery,  which,  as  said  above, 
is  but  an  aggravated  form  of  protection,  for,  like  protection,  it 
seeks  to  relieve  the  few,  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  the 
result  was  one  of  the  greatest,  perhaps  the  greatest,  revolution 
mankind  has  ever  beheld. 

Protection,  then,  we  ought  to  say  Prohibition,  for  protection 
is  not  fully  secured  till  prohibition  is  accomplished,  leads  to 
Poverty,  Stagnation,  and  Isolation,  or  to  Revolution. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

PROTECTION    OPPOSED    TO    IMPROVEMENT. 

This  is  a  startling  assertion,  to  use  the  mildest  language. 
In  the  opinion  of  many  it  may  be  termed  a  very  foolish  asser- 
tion, and  perhaps  only  a  few  may  be  inclined  to  allow  that 
there  is  any  truth  at  all  in  the  assertion.  But  before  deciding 
•  this  point,  let  us  hear  the  matter  through,  and  then  we  will  be 
better  enabled  to  form  a  correct  opinion  on  the  subject.  At 
all  events,  the  reader  will  not  be  detained  as  long  on  this 
point  as  he  has  been  on  others.  In  speaking  of  protection  the 
writer  speaks  of  the  spirit  of  protection,  for  protection  as  prac- 
tised does  frequently  adopt  improvements,  but  when  it  does, 
violence  is  done  to  its  nature,  and  it  then  nourishes  a  foe  that 
will  eventually  undermine  and  destroy  it. 

We  will  assume  the  fact  that  protection  after  the  pattern  of 
the  idea  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Association  of  America,  which  is 


94  UNWISE  LAWS. 

prohibition,  for  the  patriotic  soul  of  this  association  views  with 
the  utmost  horror  the  entry  of  a  single  pound  of  foreign  iron 
in  any  of  its  multitudinous  forms  into  our  country,  has  been 
adopted  as  the  national  policy.  By  continued  experience  in 
stopping  the  holes  through  which  foreign  goods  entered  the 
country,  the  wall  of  protection  has  been  raised  just  high'enough 
to  keep  out  all  foreign  goods.  Foreign  goods  are  almost  near 
enough  to  the  top  of  the  wall  to  flow  over — indeed,  are  just  at 
the  top  of  the  wall,  but  yet  not  able  to  overflow  it.  Manufac- 
turers on  our  side  of  the  wall,  having  the  home  market  all  to 
themselves,  have  little  or  no  inducement  to  make  improve- 
ments, for  when  mankind  are  enjoying  a  good  thing  by  pro- 
ceeding in  the  old  ruts,  they  are  not  likely  to  put  themselves 
out  either  to  invent  improvements  or  to  discover  methods  by 
which  cost  of  manufacture  may  be  reduced,  or  better  products 
may  be  turned  out.  Every  man  feels,  when  he  is  doing  very 
well,  little  or  no  disposition  to  change  matters  in  any  respect ; 
he  is  satisfied  with  letting  matters  remain  as  they  are.  And  so 
it  is  with  men  in  the  shape  of  protected  manufacturers.  When 
money  is  made  easily  they  prefer  to  go  on  in  the  old  way,  so 
that  not  only  may  few  improvements  be  expected  from  them, 
but  they  will  also  be  opposed  to  improvements,  for  improve- 
ments by  others  may  necessitate  not  only  a  complete  change 
in  their  method  of  procedure,  and  we  all  know  how  irksome  it 
is  to  change  our  settled  ways,  but  it  may  also  render  entirely 
worthless,  except  as  old  material,  their  most  costly  machinery. 
Hence  the  home  manufacturer  frowns  down  and  discounte- 
nances all  improvements,  as  numberless  inventors  can  testify 
who  have  experienced  the  utmost  difficulty  in  introducing  in- 
ventions of  the  most  valuable  character. 

Protection  being  fully  established,  and  under  the  condition 
of  affairs  then  prevailing,  foreigners  are  shut  out.  Suppose 
now  some  important  invention  like  the  spinning-jenny  is 
adopted  in  England.  Before  this  invention  cotton  goods  had 
been  kept  out,  but  as  soon  as  the  spinning-jenny  is  put  into 


UNWISE  LAWS.  95 

operation  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods  is  so  facilitated  and 
cheapened  they  are  enabled  to  overcome  all  impediments  and 
to  enter  our  borders.  Can  any  one  suppose  that  the  manufac- 
turers of  cotton  goods  would  look  upon  this  improvement 
with  favorable  eyes  ?  On  the  contrary,  they  would  regard 
it  with  so  much  aversion  they  would  either  destroy  the  inven- 
tion, if  they  could,  or  they  would  buy  it  up  with  its  privilege 
of  sole  manufacture,  and  then  suppress  it,  or  they  would  apply 
to  Congress  to  build  the  wall  higher  so  that  our  people  might 
be  totally  deprived  of  all  the  advantages  of  the  improvement. 
Other  illustrations  of  the  same  character  might  be  cited  till  a 
volume  was  written,  but  the  reader  can  supply  them  for 
himself. 

Take  another  illustration.  We  may  suppose  that  protection 
has  accommodated  itself  to  the  new  improvements,  and  has  by 
the  aid  of  Congress  excluded  our  people  from  their  benefits  by 
raising  the  wall  of  protection.  And  now  comes  an  improve- 
ment in  the  shape  of  improved  transportation,  whereby  a  route 
is  shortened,  or  the  speed  increased,  or  the  capacity  of  vessels 
augmented.  Before  the  improvement  was  discovered  or 
adopted,  the  wall,  after  being  raised,  was  just  high  enough  to 
keep  out  foreign  goods.  Now  transportation,  we  all  know,  is 
a  very  important  element  of  cost.  Well,  then,  by  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  clipper-built  ship  for  an  old-fashioned  lugger,  three 
trips  can  be  made  where  formerly  only  two  were  possible  ;  or, 
more  especially,  by  the  substitution  of  a  steamer  for  a  sailing- 
vessel,  the  cost  of  transportation  is  so  reduced  foreign  goods 
can  again  come  in  ;  how  soon  is  the  whole  protected  interest 
in  arms  to  prevent  the  people  from  enjoying  the  fruits  of  cheap- 
ened transportation,  and  how  soon  they  go  to  Congress  to  de- 
mand increased  duties,  so  that  as  far  as  our  people  are  con- 
cerned these  improvements  may  be  completely  neutralized. 

Again,  there  may  be  a  great  improvement  by  the  shortening 
of  a  route,  as,  for  instance,  when  the  Suez  Canal  shortened  the 
distance  to  India  and  China  by  thousands  of  miles,  and  reduced 


96  UNWISE  LAWS. 

in  the  same  ratio  the  dangers  of  navigation.  This  is  a  process 
whereby  goods  that  formerly  were  shut  out  may  now  come  in, 
for  improvements  of  every  kind  are  equivalent  to  a  lowering 
of  the  wall  of  prohibition,  but  how  soon  do  the  advocates  of 
protection  again  hasten  to  deprive  the  people  of  all  the  benefits 
of  the  decreased  distance  and  decreased  dangers,  by  besieging 
Congress  once  more  to  add  to  the  height  of  the  protecting 
wall. 

The  spirit  of  protection  is,  we  thus  see,  opposed  to  improve- 
ments of  all  kinds.  But  sometimes  protection  is  inconsistent 
with  itself,  and  sometimes  avails  itself  of  improvements,  but 
every  improvement  that  protection  adopts  is  one  nail  driven 
into  its  coffin  ;  and  protection  Avill  finally  be  destroyed  from 
the  necessity  of  adopting  improvements,  and  these  improve- 
ments will  at  last  devour  it,  as  Saturn  devoured  his  own  chil- 
dren at  their  birth. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DOES    PROTECTION    INSURE    PERMANENT    HIGH    WAGES  ? 

In  a  strictly  commercial  country  like  the  United  States  the 
price  of  every  thing,  with  few  exceptions,  is  regulated  by  com- 
petition. A  large  demand  upon  a  small  supply  means  high 
prices,  but  a  large  demand  upon  a  large  supply  may  make  no 
alteration  in  prices.  For  example,  in  the  grain  year  1884-5, 
although  the  demand  for  our  wheat  (including  flour)  amounted  to 
the  immense  quantity  of  about  150,000,000  bushels,  the  price 
declined  because  the  supply  was  large.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
small  demand  upon  a  large  supply  means  low  prices,  but  a 
small  demand  upon  a  small  supply  may,  as  in  the  case  of  a  large 
demand  upon  a  large  supply,  mean  no  alteration  in  prices,  just 
as  in  the  grain  year  1885-6,  although  the  crop  of  wheat  is 
150,000,000  bushels  short  of  the  previous  year,  a  very  moderate 
rise  in  price  is  maintained  with  utmost  difficulty  because  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  97 

demand  is  small.  Thus  prices  depend  not  exactly  upon  sup- 
ply and  demand,  but  upon  the  size  of  the  demand  upon  the 
supply. 

Thus  in  the  United  States  we  have  generally  high  wages, 
much  above  the  rate  in  European  countries,  though  not,  I  be- 
lieve, higher  than  in  countries  similarly  situated,  as,  for  in- 
stance, in  Australia.  But  the  fact  of  high  wages  in  the  United 
States  proves  that  the  demand  for  labor  is  generally  in  excess 
of  the  supply.  If  there  was  only  one  kind  of  demand  for 
labor  then  high  wages  might  logically  be  ascribed  to  that  de- 
mand, but  in  case  there  were  many  kinds  of  demand  could 
high  wages  be  fairly  ascribed  to  any  one  kind  of  demand,  but 
should  they  not  rather  be  ascribed  to  the  united  influence  of 
all  the  various  kinds  of  demand  ?  Thus  we  have  various 
kinds  of  demand  for  labor.  We  have  the  manufacturing  de- 
mand, the  agricultural  demand,  the  mining  demand,  the  rail- 
road-building demand,  the  railroad-maintenance  demand,  and 
various  other  kinds  of  demand.  All  of  these  demands  are 
large,  but  the  agricultural  demand  required  for  the  opening 
and  development  of  the  fertile  and  fruitful  States  from  Ohio  to 
the  Mississippi  River,  and  later  the  similar  demand  for  the 
States  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  extending  north  to  the  line 
of  British  America,  may  fairly  be  claimed  to  be  the  most  im- 
portant, and  next  in  importance  may  be  said  to  be  the  demand 
for  the  immense  armies  of  men  required  first  to  build  and 
equip  the  125,000  miles  of  railroad  that  overspread  the  land 
like  a  huge  net,  and  second,  to  maintain  and  run  these  roads, 
which  are  long  enough  to  girdle  the  earth  five  times.  After 
these  two  demands  comes  the  demand  from  the  protected  in- 
dustries, and  the  various  other  demands  for  labor.  One  would 
naturally  suppose  that  if  any  one  demand  was  entitled  to  the 
honor  of  high  wages  it  would  be  the  agricultural  demand,  sim- 
ply because  it  was  the  largest  demand.  But  no  reasonable 
man,  however  he  might  be  wedded  to  agriculture  or  railroads, 
would  make  such  a  claim  for  either,  but  would  say,  why  of 


98  UNWISE  LAWS. 

course  the  combined  demand  would  be  entitled  to  the  honor. 
,  But  not  so  the  protectionist.  He  claims  that  protection  alone 
is  entitled  to  the  honor,  and  he  never  wearies  of  glorifying 
protection  on  the  ground  that  it  gives  the  "laboring  population 
high  wages  ;  and  he  has  dwelt  upon  this  theme  so  persistently 
he  has  persuaded  the  majority  of  the  people  that  they  must 
thank  protection  alone  for  the  fact  that  higher  wages  prevail 
in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe. 

The  protectionist  claims  for  protection  the  sole  honor  of  the 
high  wage's  prevailing  in  the  United  States.  This  assertion  is 
not  only  denied,  but  on  the  contrary  it  is  asserted  that  protec- 
tion, instead  of  being  the  cause  of  high  wages,  is  the  cause  of 
fluctuating  wages  ;  that  instead  of  causing  steady  wages  it 
causes  a  state  of  affairs  in  which  wages  are  at  one  time  high,  at 
another  time  low,  and  at  another  wages  at  any  rate  are  almost 
impossible  to  be  obtained  owing  to  the  panics  and  the  prostra- 
tions that  protection  inevitably  produces. 

It  is  further  asserted  that  though  a  manufacturing  or  an  agri- 
cultural or  any  other  kind  of  demand  may  temporarily  raise 
wages,  no  demand  can  cause  for  any  length  of  time  a  higher 
level  of  wages  in  that  particular  branch  than  the  average  rate 
of  wages  prevailing  in  employments  generally. 

First  let  us  trace  the  manufacturing  demand.  As  manufac- 
tures are  stimulated  by  protection,  or  even  by  a  natural  de- 
mand, if  it  be  large  the  demand  for  labor  increases.  As  a  rule 
people  are  employed  in  those  occupations  Avhich  they  find  most 
profitable.  But  an  extra  demand  coming  upon  the  manufac- 
turers, they  require  a  larger  supply  of  laborers.  People  gener- 
ally being  profitably  engaged  they  will  not  respond  to  the 
manufacturers'  demand  unless  they  have  some  inducement. 
Hence  to  get  them  the  manufacturer  pays  higher  wages,  and 
thus  begins  a  higher  plane  of  wages  in  the  manufacturing  world 
than  outside.  Manufacturing  continuing  profitable,  the  manu- 
facturer needs  more  laborers,  but  the  first  draft  on  the  outside 
world  having  diminished  the  available  supply  of  labor  therein, 


UNWISE  LAWS.  99 

a  slightly  better  demand  has  been  created  in  the  non-manufac- 
turing world.  Therefore  for  the  manufacturer  to  get  more 
laborers  out  of  this  non-manufacturing  world  he  must  offer 
higher  wages  than  he  did  at  first,  which  he  does  because  the 
demand  for  his  goods  will  enable  him  to  increase  his  prices 
sufficient  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  increased  wages,  and  thus 
the  level  of  wages  will  be  raised  still  higher  in  the  manufac- 
turing world.  By  this  means  in  a  moderate  length  of  time  the 
rate  of  wages  will  be  so  high  in  the  manufacturing  world  as  to 
attract  general  attention,  and  laborers  will  begin  to  flow  towards 
manufactures.  Under  the  state  of  non-protection,  when  the 
manufacturer  has  to  compete  with  all  the  world,  competition 
will  soon  correct  any  abnormal  variations  from  a  reasonable 
level,  so  that  the  temptation  of  excessive  wages  will  not  last 
long  enough  to  attract  any  very  large  accumulation  of  laborers 
towards  manufactures,  but  under  a  state  of  protection  when 
manufacturers  are  assured  a  margin  of  profit  of  from  an  aver- 
age of  40  ^  on  cotton  goods,  of  35  ^  on  iron  goods,  of  66  ffo  on 
woollen  goods,  up  to  124  ^,  on  plate-glass  from  24x60  "  and 
upwards,  it  requires  so  long  a  time  to  overstock  the  market  the 
attraction  of  high  wages  continues  long  enough  to  attract  a 
vast  multitude  of  laborers,  not  only  from  home  sources,  but 
also  from  those  living  beyond  the  seas,  as  an  influx  of  upwards 
of  8,000,000  of  immigrants  between  1863  and  1885  abundantly 
proves.  Of  course,  as  we  can  readily  see,  this  long-extended 
artificial  demand  continues  for  a  long  time,  but  finally  the  supply 
must  not  only  overtake  the  demand,  but  it  must  also  overwhelm 
it,  for  when  once  a  current  sets  steadily  and  strongly  in  one  direc- 
tion it  cannot  be  stopped  at  will,  but  it  must  continue  till  the 
latest  additions  to  the  column  shall  have  presented  themselves. 
In  the  rise  of  a  river  the  flood  does  not  stop  with  the  ceasing  of 
the  rain,  but  it  continues  till  the  last  drop  of  surplus  water  has 
passed  along  on  its  way  to  the  sea.  For  a  time,  and  if  the  arti- 
ficial obstructions  to  commercial  intercourse  are  great,  for  a 
long  time,  high  wages  prevail.     During  this  period  of    high 


lOO  UNWISE  LAWS. 

wages  every  thing  apparently  prospers.  The  manufacturers 
begin  to  catch  up  with  the  demand,  and  a  little  later  to  supply 
the  demand  fully,  and  then  goods  begin  to  accumulate.  Dan- 
ger then  commences,  but  the  manufacturers  do  not  perceive  it, 
for  the  ease  with  which  advances  are  obtained  and  the  facility 
whereby  goods  are  hypothecated  blind  them  to  the  fact  that 
goods  are  beginning  to  be  in  excessive  supply.  Having  obtained 
advances  from  their  commission  merchants,  they  feel  as  if  the 
goods  had  been  sold,  and  they  go  to  work  and  make  more  goods 
with  the  advances  they  have  obtained.  During  all  this  time 
labor  has  been  in  demand  and  wages  have  continued  high,  but 
the  inevitable  time  has  come  when  iron  and  steam  and  water 
have  turned  out  more  goods  than  flesh  and  blood  can  consume. 
Demand,  of  course,  now  begins  to  slacken,  and  as  the  supply 
of  labor  still  continues  to  flow  towards  manufactures,  an  excess 
of  labor  begins  to  be  apparent.  The  manufacturer  now  too 
finds  that  his  goods  are  in  the  warehouses  of  his  consignee  in- 
stead of  in  the  hands  of  the  consumer,  and  he  can  therefore 
get  no  more  advances.  Manufacturers  generally  are  found  to 
be  in  this  condition,  so  they  begin  to  curtail  production  and 
some  stop  altogether.  Wages,  of  course,  begin  to  fall,  first  be- 
cause more  are  seeking  work  than  there  is  work  to  be  done, 
and  secondly,  because  manufacturers  have  already  placed  most 
of  their  means  in  goods  which  are  still  in  the  hands  of  their 
agents.  But  although  curtailed,  production  still  continues 
larger  than  demand,  for  it  is  well  known  that  manufacturing 
power  is  fully  double  the  power  of  home  consumption. 

Goods  continue  to  increase,  notwithstanding  labor  begins  to 
be  thrown  out  of  employment  ;  indeed,  the  very  cheapness  of 
labor  causes  more  goods  to  be  produced,  for  they  can  thereby 
be  thrown  on  the  market  at  a  lower  price.  We  have  now 
arrived  at  the  period  when  wages  have  fallen,  and  in  conse- 
quence strikes  everywhere  abound,  in  the  vain  endeavor  to 
restore  the  former  wages.  These  strikes,  of  course,  add  to  the 
distress  of  labor,  and  by  the  time  lost  from  strikes  the  wages  of 


UNWISE  LAWS.  lOI 

labor  are  still  further  reduced.  Labor  now  feels  sadly  and 
keenly  its  altered  condition,  for,  taking  the  reduced  wages  of 
the  employed  and  the  no-wages  of  the  unemployed,  labor  in 
manufactures  is  earning  less  than  in  other  employments.  In 
the  progress  of  affairs  manufacturers  find  they  must  come  to  a 
settlement  with  their  agents,  and  the  agents  find  that  to  save 
themselves  from  bankruptcy  they  must  sell  their  consignments 
at  some  price,  and  so  they,  in  slang  phrase,  slaughter  the  goods 
of  their  principals  first  at  private  sale,  and  then,  finding  that 
that  process  is  too  slow,  they  resort  to  the  auction  rooms,  and 
vast  quantities  of  goods  are  forced  on  the  public  through  this 
medium,  with  the  final  result  that  thousands  of  manufacturers 
find  themselves  ruined,  their  ruin  bringing  down  others,  till  at 
last  panic  and  general  suspension  of  manufacturing  follow. 
The  mills  and  factories  stopping,  labor  generally  is  thrown  out, 
and  we  have  a  period  of  stagnation  and  distress  such  as  prevails 
in  many  lines  of  trade  at  the  present  time  (July,  1885). 

Then  we  see  high  wages  followed  by  low  wages  and  low 
wages  followed  by  total  lack  of  wages  to  hundreds  of  thousands. 
Wages  under  the  protective  system  are  never  steady  for  any 
length  of  time.  The  stimulus  of  protection  produces  conges- 
tion. Thousands  desert  other  employments  and  rush  in  to 
reap  the  high  wages  temporarily  prevailing.  They  soon  over- 
crowd the  market  and  compete  against  themselves.  A  period 
of  steadily  decreasing  wages  follows.  This  is  aggravated  by 
continual  strikes,  and  irritation  of  mind  and  heart  is  added  to 
physical  suffering,  and  finally  the  whole  industrial  system  col- 
lapses and  labor  lies,  like  a  defeated  army,  broken,  demoralized, 
and  bleeding.  In  course  of  time  a  rally  follows  and  industrial 
affairs  recover  from  their  depressed  condition,  but  the  recovery 
lasts  for  but  a  short  time,  for  the  same  process  of  stimulation, 
congestion,  and  collapse  follows,  to  be  gone  through  again  and 
again  as  long  as  so-called  protection  hovers  like  an  incubus 
over  the  land.  How  much  better  for  the  pocket,  the  mind, 
and  the  heart  to  have  steady  and  constant,  though  nominally 


I02  UNWISE  LAWS. 

low  wages,  than  the  fever  of  high  wages  and  flush  times,  the 
anxieties  and  the  strikes  of  the  following  period  of  decreasing 
wages,  and  the  actual  suffering  of  the  final  period  when  labor 
slackens  and  frequently  ceases  altogether.  Legal  non-inter- 
ference does  not  save  labor  from  fluctuations,  for  variations  of 
condition,  of  prosperity,  and  adversity  are  incident  to  the 
nature  of  man  under  all  circumstances,  but  especially  in  com- 
mercial countries  ;  but  the  variations  are  kept  within  narrower 
limits  both  in  time  and  intensity  ;  but  legal  interference  or  pro- 
tection raises  barriers  against  natural  forces,  and  as  these 
natural  forces  constantly  beat  against  these  barriers  a  vast 
pressure  is  brought  in  time  to  bear  against  them,  and  when 
the  barriers  are  broken  then  the  destruction  is  proportioned  to 
the  resistance  overcome.  A  rivulet,  flowing  between  two 
neighboring  hills,  may  sometimes  overflow  the  meadows  below 
and  thus  do  some  damage,  but  if,  in  the  effort  to  prevent  this 
damage  of  a  small  overflow,  this  stream  is  dammed  where  the 
hills  approach  each  other,  and  if,  as  the  water  overflows,  the 
dam  is  raised  and  raised  again,  the  time  will  come  when  this 
dam,  however  high  and  however  strong  it  may  be  built,  must 
inevitably  burst,  and  then  this  small  rivulet  which,  if  let  alone, 
would  at  the  worst  but  have  overflowed  a  few  acres,  will  now, 
in  its  irresistible  rush,  sweep  whole  villages  off  the  face  of  the 
earth  and  spread  devastation  and  death  along  the  whole  course 
of  its  current.  Protection  is  this  rivulet  obstructed  by  a  dam, 
and  the  industrial  distress  we  are  at  present  experiencing  are 
the  effects  of  the  broken  dam  which  natural  forces  have  swept 
from  its  foundations. 

AVe  will  now  come  to  the  second  part  of  our  claim,  that  de- 
mand from  no  one  source  is  able  to  maintain,  for  any  length  of 
time,  higher  wages  in  that  employment  than  the  average  of 
wages  prevailing  in  other  employments.  In  this  claim  I  do  not 
include  sundry  small  and  special  branches  of  labor,  such  as 
the  cutting  and  polishing  of  precious  stones,  for  the  wages  in 
these  departments,  for  the  reason  that  so  few  are  capable  of 


UNWISE  LAWS.  103 

following  these  employments,  that  those  who  are  capable  of 
engaging  in  them  can  almost  always  command  their  own 
prices.  But  why  cannot  wages  be  maintained  permanently  at 
a  higher  level  in  some  employments  than  in  others?  For  in- 
stance, if  protection  causes  high  wages  in  manufacturing  em- 
ployments, why  cannot  protection  secure  permanency  of  high 
wages  in  these  same  employments  ?  To  ask  the  question  is  to 
answer  it,  so  simple  is  the  proposition  ;  but  simple  as  it  is  there 
are  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  people  intelligent  on 
other  subjects  who  cannot  understand  why  wages  constantly 
tend  to  an  average  in  all  departments  of  labor  ;  hence  the 
simple  question  is  asked  and  must  be  answered.  But  before 
proceeding  further  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  wages  are  not  only 
current  money,  but  they  are  also  other  things  that  it  costs 
current  money  to  obtain.  Thus  the  town  laborer  who  receives 
$1.25  per  day,  but  who  has  to  purchase  subsistence,  lodging, 
fuel,  and  other  things,  imagines  he  receives  much  higher  wages 
than  the  farm  hand  who  receives  $15  a  month,  or  50  cents  a 
day,  and  in  addition  receives  subsistence,  lodging,  fuel,  and 
who  is  not  docked  for  loss  of  time  due  to  bad  weather,  while 
in  reality  the  wages  of  the  farm  laborer  are  higher,  for  he  will 
probably  be  able  to  save  ten  dollars  out  of  every  fifteen,  while 
the  town  laborer  generally  ends  the  year  as  he  began  it,  with 
little  or  nothing  laid  by,  and  in  addition  a  score  against  him  at 
as  many  stores  as  he  can  gain  credit.  Hence,  in  estimating 
wages  we  should  not  confine  ourselves  to  the  moneyed  part,  but 
should  take  into  consideration  the  food  and  shelter  and  other 
things  that  frequently  go  along  with  money. 

Now  why  must  wages  in  all  employments  tend  to  an 
equality  ?  We  speak  here  of  a  commercial  community  where 
the  individual  is  free  to  change  his  residence  and  his  occupa- 
tion at  will.  For  the  very  simple  reason  that  when  there  is 
much  variation  in  wages  those  who  are  earning  small  wages  soon 
desert  their  occupations  and  flock  to  those  em])loyments  where 
wages  are  high.     And  this  change  of  occupation  produces  two 


104  UNWISE  LAWS. 

effects  :  the  first  and  most  apparent  is  that  labor  in  the  highest 
paid  lines  soon  becomes  abundant  and  finally  superabundant, 
and  therefore  wages  fall  ;  and  secondly  those  employments 
that  are  deserted  soon  feel  the  loss  of  the  deserters,  and  labor 
in  them  becomes  scarce  and  consequently  higher,  and  thus  a 
further  drain  of  that  employment  is  prevented.  If  wages  re- 
mained for  a  long  time  on  a  much  higher  plane  in  agriculture 
than  in  all  other  employments,  the  time  would  finally  come 
when  the  cities  and. towns  would  in  great  measure  be  deserted^ 
the  ships  would  be  without  sailors,  and  those  ships  already 
built  would  soon  rot  at  the  wharves  and  no  new  ones  would  be 
built,  the  railroads  would  be  forsaken  by  the  brakesman,  the 
conductor,  the  engineer,  and  the  president,  and  the  locomotives 
would  find  few  to  run  them,  and  the  country  would  present 
the  curious  spectacle  of  nearly  the  whole  population  engaged 
in  raising  food,  cotton,  and  tobacco,  and  all  these  things 
rotting  on  the  farmer's  hands  because  there  were  few  to  eat 
the  food,  to  chew  or  smoke  the  tobacco,  and  to  wear  the 
cotton.  No  !  there  are  no  permanent  high  wages  in  any  em- 
ployment, but  wages  are  constantly  fluctuating  in  every  occu- 
pation, and  hence  the  claim  of  the  protectionist  that  protection 
causes  constant  high  wages  is  entirely  groundless.  For  if  they 
did  we  would  have  the  reverse  of  the  foregoing  picture. 
Everybody,  or  at  least  the  vast  majority,  would  be  engaged  in 
making  wares  of  every  description,  the  fields  would  be  de- 
serted, there  would  be  little  corn,  wheat,  and  other  grain,  there 
would  be  few  swine,  cattle,  and  other  animals,  and  the  people 
would  be  brought  into  a  state  of  absolute  starvation.  Protec- 
tion, indeed,  swings  the  pendulum  of  high  wages  very  far  in 
one  direction,  but  the  inevitable  rebound  carries  it  as  far  in  the 
opposite  direction  of  low  wages,  causing,  as  we  have  seen,  ex- 
treme fluctuations  which  are  always  productive  of  injury  ;  just 
as  a  wet  season  which  fills  all  the  fibres  with  copious  sap  is  all 
the  more  fatal  when  followed  by  a  season  of  scorching  suns 
and  parching  winds. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  105 

Protection  is  only  one  of  the  factors  of  our  high  wages,  but 
while  with  one  hand  it  bestows  at  times  on  the  laborer  the 
blessings  of  high  wages,  it  immediately  with  other  hand  robs 
him  of  all  these  advantages  by  causing  such  general  high  prices 
that  he  finds,  after  supplying  the  necessary  wants  of  himself 
and  family,  he  has  little  or  nothing  left  at  the  end  of  a  long 
life  of  arduous  toil. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

WHY  THESE  UNWISE  LAWS  HAVE  NOT  SOONER  EXERTED  THEIR 
INJURIOUS  EFFECTS,  AND  WHY  THEY  MUST  EXERT  THEM 
IN    THE    FUTURE    WITH    INCREASING    FORCE. 

When  expenditure,  however  large  and  extravagant,  is 
equalled  by  income  no  catastrophe  follows.  A  cistern  may  be 
leaking  at  every  seam,  but  if  it  is  fed  by  a  bold  spring  it  will 
never  be  empty,  but  Avill  always  be  brimming  over  with  spark- 
ling water.  Vanderbilt  may  exhaust  his  coffers  at  the  rate  of 
millions  annually,  but  they  continue  ever  full  because  of  the 
abundance  of  the  income.  Lake  Ontario,  though  at  every 
moment  of  time  it  fills  the  banks  of  the  grand  and  rapid  St. 
Lawrence,  is  never  emptied,  because  the  drainage  of  almost  a 
continent  supplies  the  hourly  waste.  But  suppose  the  outlet 
of  this  lake  be  lowered  but  one  hundred  feet,  thereby  increas- 
ing the  discharge  of  its  waters  and  the  supply  remaining  the 
same,  and  how  soon  will  this  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  though 
fed  by  the  overflow  of  all  the  mighty  lakes  to  the  westward, 
shrink  to  a  narrow  stream  not  too  wide  to  be  crossed  by  a 
stately  bridge  ? 

Equality  of  income  and  expenditure  means  stability.  Excess 
of  income  over  expenditure  means  prosperity,  and  excess  of 
expenditure  over  income  means  poverty.  While  all  will  agree  to 
these  truisms  as  applied  to  individuals,  few  realize  that  they 
apply  equally  also  to  nations,  yet  they  are  as  unerring  in  their 


I06  UNWISE  LAWS. 

application  to  nations,  however  wealthy  and  powerful  they  may 
be,  as  they  are  to  the  humblest  individual  that  walks  our 
streets.  They  apply  to  the  glorious  and  free  United  States  as 
they  do  to  the  "  effete  "  monarchies  of  Europe.  But  while  they 
apply  equally  to  rich  and  poor  nations,  they  are  slower  in 
showing  their  effects  on  the  rich  nation,  for  the  rich  nation, 
especially  a  growing  nation,  has  more  to  draw  upon,  and  it  can 
stand  for  a  long  period  every  species  of  waste  and  ex- 
travagance. 

The  rich  and  growing  nation  can  stand  the  extravagance  of 
its  citizens  and  the  wastefulness  of  bad  laws,  however  great 
these  two  sources  of  impoverishment  may  be,  as  long  as  it  con- 
tinues to  grow,  and  while  the  period  of  growth  lasts  it  is 
almost  vain  to  counsel  moderation  or  to  point  out  the  errors  of 
vicious  legislation,  for  no  heed  will  be  paid  to  the  warnings  of 
the  most  consummate  wisdom,  but,  on  the  contrary,  thousands, 
perhaps  the  majority  of  people,  will  point  to  the  laws,  which  are 
in  reality  sapping  the  very  foundations  of  prosperity,  as  the 
cause  of  the  prosperity  which  has  been  observed  on  every  hand. 
They  reason  post  hoc  propter  hoc.  That  is  to  say,  because 
prosperity  prevails  coincident  with  vicious  laws,  therefore  the 
vicious  laws  are  the  cause  of  the  prosperity.  The  protectionist 
reasons  in  this  manner,  and  the  great  party  which  controlled 
this  country  from  1861  to  1885  reasoned  in  the  same  way.  The 
protectionist  sees  protection  prevailing  more  or  less  from  the 
foundation  of  the  government,  and  in  its  most  extreme  form 
since  1861,  and  he  sees  the  country  grown  from  a  few  millions 
stretched  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  to  fifty  millions,  and  an 
empire  extending  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  wealth  of  every 
description  aboundmg  on  all  sides,  and  he  therefore  argues, 
that  protection  is  the  cause  of  all  this  growth  and  all  this  pros- 
perity, while  the  fact  is  that  all  this  prosperity  and  all  this 
growth  have  come  in  spite  of  the  destructive  and  injurious 
effects  of  protection.  The  country  was  a  lusty  giant  rejoicing 
in  his  strength.      Health  and  vigor  was  coursing  through  his 


UNWISE  LAWS.  107 

veins,  and  he  laughed  at  all  the  burdens  that  might  be  piled 
upon  his  shoulders.  As  long  as  growth  lasted  he  drew  all 
kinds  of  drafts  upon  his  constitution,  and  he  minded  no  trials, 
no  troubles,  and  no  difificulties,  for  his  growth  and  strength  were 
more  than  sufficient  for  all.  Now  let  us  look  at  this  giant,  and 
we  will  begin  at  1800. 

At  this  period  the  States  had  increased  to  sixteen  by  the  ad- 
mission of  Kentucky,  Vermont,  and  Tennessee,  and  the  popu- 
lation to  5,300,000.  Although  the  people  were  almost  unac- 
customed to  the  luxuries  of  the  table  and  of  fine  raiment,  they 
were  exceedingly  comfortable  and  prosperous.  They  had 
virgin  soil  to  cultivate  and  virgin  forests  to  despoil  of  their 
stately  growth.  Land  was  so  cheap  it  was  found  more  advan- 
tageous to  clear  fresh  forests  than  to  keep  up  the  fertility  of 
what  was  already  clear,  so  when  one  field  declined  in  produc- 
tiveness, they*took  up  another,  and  when,  by  this  means,  one 
neighborhood  or  one  section  became  impoverished  by  wasteful 
cropping  they  soon  loaded  their  household  effects  into  wagons 
and  moved  beyond  the  mountains.  What  dift'erence  did  it 
make  to  people  then  if  they  wore  out  land  in  a  few  years — 
there  was  plenty  more  to  be  had  for  the  asking,  or  at  the  most 
for  $1.25  an  acre.  The  country  could  stand  the  waste  and  did 
stand  it,  and  prospered.  But  suppose  the  people  had  been 
confined  to  the  limits  of  the  sixteen  States  they  then  occupied 
would  not  such  wasteful  cultivation,  and  such  apparently 
wanton  destruction  of  forests,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  decades, 
begin  to  show  their  impoverishing  effects  ?  After  the  farmers 
had  worn  out  their  fields  and  had  no  fresh  land  to  cultivate, 
they  would  find  that  while  formerly  their  labor  had  been  re- 
warded with  twenty  or  twenty-five  bushels  of  wheat,  and  fifty 
or  seventy-five  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre,  they  would  now 
reap  only  about  ten  of  wheat  and  twenty  of  corn,  which  is 
about  the  present  average  for  the  whole  country,  and  much 
above  the  average  for  the  old  States.  Wealth,  of  course,  under 
such  decreased  production,  must  increase  much  more  slowly 


I08  UNWISE  LAWS. 

than  at  first,  and  perhaps  it  would  not  increase  at  all.  But,  as 
said  before,  the  country  could  stand  the  waste,  for  it  had 
boundless  resources  to  draw  upon.  It  was,  indeed,  a  spend- 
thrift, but  it  had  wealthy  and  indulgent  parents  to  draw  upon, 
and  it  mattered  little.  It  will  be  interesting  to  trace  the  de- 
velopment of  the  country  as  State  after  State  was  admitted  to 
the  Union,  and  poured  its  annual  treasures  into  the  common 
storehouse  of  wealth,  not  only  to  support  the  people  in  comfort 
and  happiness,  but  also  to  supply  the  destruction  of  wealth, 
caused  by  the  wastefulness  and  extravagance  of  the  people  in- 
dividually, and  also  by  them  collectively,  in  consequence  of  the 
operation  of  unwise  laws  which  they,  as  Congress,  had  fastened 
upon  their  own  shoulders. 

First  in  the  column  comes  Ohio,  which  became  a  State  in 
1802.  Whatever  prejudices  one  may  have,  one  cannot  deny  that 
Ohio  is  an  empire  in  itself,  and  that  it  contains  within  its  ample 
bounds,  exceeding  by  five  times  the  size  of  Massachusetts,  at 
least  as  many  of  the  elements  of  wealth  and  happiness  as  any 
equal  portion  of  the  surface  of  the  earth.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  her  existence,  Ohio  poured  broad  and  deep  streams 
of  wealth  into  the  common  treasury,  not  only  enough  to  sup- 
port her  own  children,  but  myriads  besides.  In  one  year  Ohio 
raised  1 12,000,000  bushels  of  corn,  46,000,000  bushels  of  wheat, 
and  the  value  of  millions  besides  of  things  for  which  men 
desire  and  strive. 

Ten  years  later  Louisiana  was  admitted  to  the  Union,  and 
although  she  has  never  been  such  a  factor  in  the  production  of 
wealth  as  Ohio,  she  has  yet  been  a  most  important  element  in 
the  development  of  the  whole  West,  for  without  Louisiana  the 
greater  part  of  the  West  would  still  be  the  undisturbed  home 
of  the  buffalo  and  the  wild  Indian. 

In  1 816,  Indiana  makes  her  appearance  as  a  State,  and 
although  smaller  than  Ohio,  she  is  almost  as  important  a  factor 
in  the  production  of  national  wealth,  and  a  reservoir  for  the 
country  to  draw  upon  to  supply  the  waste  caused  by  unwise 


UNWISE  LAWS. 


109 


legislation,  for  she,  in  1879,  produced  115,000,000  bushels  of 
corn,  and  47,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  besides  other  valuable 
products  to  the  value  of  scores  of  millions. 

In  1818,  Illinois  becomes  the  twenty-first  star.  Language 
cannot  describe  the  fertility  of  this  State  in  less  terms  than  by 
saying  she  is  a  natural  garden  from  north  to  south,  and  from 
east  to  west.  Such  is  the  richness  and  depth  of  her  alluvial 
soil,  that  after  the  hand  of  man  had  been  engaged  for  60  years  in 
his  efforts  to  exhaust  it,  she  produced  326,000,000  bushels  of 
corn,  51,000,000  bushels  of  wheat,  and  63,000,000  bushels  of 
oats,  and  her  production  of  cattle  and  swine  was  on  an  equally 
colossal  scale.  Who  can  compute  the  wealth  added  to  the 
country  in  a  few  decades  by  this  fruitful  State,  and  who  can 
compute  the  value  of  this  reservoir  for  supplying  the  drain  on 
the  country  by  the  operation  of  unwise  laws. 

To  go  over  the  whole  list  of  new  States,  which  every  few 
years  added  their  wealth  to  the  general  wealth,  would  be  too 
tedious,  so  we  will  merely  place  them  in  a  column  so  that  one 
may  see  at  a  glance  the  wealth  these  States  constantly  added 
to  the  general  store.  Thus  of  the  food-producing  States  we 
have  : 


Admitted  to 
Union. 

Wheat,  1879. 

Corn,  1879. 

Missouri      .... 

1821 

25,000,000 

202,500,000 

Michigan 

1837 

32,500,000 

35,500,000 

Iowa 

1845 

31,000,000 

275,000,000 

W  isconsin 

1847 

25,000,000 

34,000,000 

California 

1850 

29,000,000 

Minnesota 

1858 

34,000,000 

15,000,000 

Oregon 

1859 

7,500,000 

Kansas 

1861 

17,300,000 

106,000,000 

Nebraska 

1867 

14,000,000 

65,500,000 

Total 

215,300,000 

733,500,000 

In  addition  to  the  above  in  the  last  five  years  the  Northern 
Pacific  R.  R.,  has  developed  a  new  empire  in  the  cold  and  re- 
mote northwest,  and  that  our  last  resource  of  virgin  fields  to 


no 


UNWISE  LAWS. 


supply  the  drains  of  an  unsound  legislation  is  now  adding  mil- 
lions of  bushels  annually  into  the  general  treasury  of  national 
wealth. 

What  a  bank  is  here  presented  to  draw  drafts  upon  at  pleas- 
ure to  supply  the  injuries  inflicted  by  partial  laws,  laws  espe- 
cially designed  to  foster  manufacturing  interests.  No  wonder 
the  drafts  were  paid  for  many  years  without  feeling  them,  but,  as 
said  at  the  beginning,  a  steady  outflow  if  it  exceeds  inflow,  will 
ultimately,  though  the  time  may  be  long,  exhaust  the  largest 
reservoir,  so  these  drafts  must  tell  at  last,  and  we  are  now  feel- 
ing them  with  keenness,  and  will  feel  them  with  increasing 
severity  if  we  do  not  reform  the  laws  which  are  creating  this 
steady  drain. 

But  we  have  not  forgotten  another  and  perhaps  equally  val- 
uable source  of  national  wealth  and  a  reservoir  upon  which  to 
draw  freely  to  repair  national  waste.  We  refer  to  cotton  plant- 
ing, an  industry  which  took  its  rise  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century  and  which  has  supplied  a  greater  medium  of  foreign 
exchange  than  the  grain  and  meat  of  all  the  Western  and  North- 
western States  combined. 

The  cotton  States  entered  the  Union  hand  in  hand  with  the 
Western,  but  we  will  merely  tabulate  them  for  the  greater  con- 
venience of  the  reader,  as  follows  : 


Louisiana 

Mississippi 

Alabama 

Arkansas 

Florida 

Texas 

Total 


Admitted  to 

Cotton  Raised, 

Union. 

1879. 

l8l2 

508,500  bales. 

1817 

956,000       " 

1819 

700,000       "  • 

1836 

608,000       " 

1845 

55,000       " 

1845 

803,600       " 

,               , 

3,631,100  bales. 

Adding  the  above  to  the  productions  of  the  grain  States  and 
these  again  to  the  productions  of  the  sixteen  States  we  started 
with,    all,  the  whole   thirty-eight,  occupying  virgin  territory, 


UNWISE  LAWS.  Ill 

much  of  ^vhich,  in  the  language  of  Western  oratory,  only  re- 
quired to  be  tickled  with  a  hoe  to  laugh  a  harvest,  we  have 
a  bank  to  draw  upon  compared  with  which  the  combined  banks 
of  the  Bank  of  England,  the  Bank  of  France,  the  Imperial  Bank 
of  Germany,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  banks  of  the  world  are  but 
the  fledgling  bank  of  a  shifting  Western  mining  town. 

Another  but  a  different  source  of  wealth  was  the  mining  in- 
dustry, first  of  California  and  afterwards  of  the  mining  States 
and  territories.  Beginning  with  1849  and  continuing  for  twenty 
years,  California  produced  an  average  of  $50,000,000  of  gold  an- 
nualh',  and  beginning  with  1859,  when  the  silver  mines  were 
discovered,  up  to  and  including  18S3,  the  silver  States  and  ter- 
ritories have  added  $600,000,000  of  silver  to  the  national 
wealth,  and  since  1848  up  to  1883  the  combined  production  of 
gold  and  silver  is  computed  at  $2,230,000,000. 

It  is  now  plain  how  all  the  evils  attributed  to  unwise  laws 
may  exist,  and  how  they  may  exert  a  much  more  baleful  influ- 
ence than  charged,  and  yet  how  their  injurious  effects  may 
have  been  felt  to  a  very  small  degree,  and  how  they  may  be  en- 
tirely invisible  to  the  ordinary  observer.  To  refer  again  to 
Mr.  Vanderbilt  ;  he  and  his  sons  might  indulge  in  every  ex- 
travagance that  man  can  conceive  of.  They  might  convert  one 
of  the  most  valuable  blocks  of  Wall  street  into  private  flower 
gardens  ;  they  might  span  the  East  River  with  a  second  bridge 
for  the  amusement  of  themselves  and  their  intimate  friends  ; 
they  might  connect  New  Jersey  and  the  depot  of  the  New 
York  Central  Railroad  at  Forty-second  Street  with  a  tunnel 
broad  enough  for  double  tracks,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  trans- 
porting himself  and  family  when  they  should  deign  to  return 
from  the  West  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  or  they  might 
emulate  the  luxury  of  the  Sybarites  and  surpass  the  feasts  of 
Lucullus.  They  might  eat  nothing  less  expensive  than  dishes 
made  of  the  tongues  of  nightingales,  and  they  might  drink 
only  wines  in  which  costly  pearls  had  been  dissolved.  They 
might  dress  in  garments  that  only  artists  of  the  most  distant 


112  UNWISE  LAWS. 

countries  had  fabricated,  and  they  might  even  have  costly  ma- 
chinery set  up  for  the"  express  purpose  of  supplying  fabrics  for 
a  special  occasion,  as  when  they  gave  a  grand  feast  or  appeared 
at  an  imposing  ceremony,  and  then  have  the  machinery  broken 
up  so  that  it  might  never  be  employed  in  the  service  of  meaner 
people,  or  they  might  even  adopt  this  course  for  their  daily  ap- 
parel ;  they  might  do  all  these  things,  and  many  more  besides, 
and  yet  so  vast  is  their  wealth  and  so  enormous  is  their  annual 
income  they  could  indulge  in  this  course  for  years  before  they 
would  begin  to  feel  the  want  of  money,  and  it  would  be  longer 
still  before  bankruptcy  would  put  a  summary  end  to  their 
follies. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  country  as  with  the  individual,  for  the 
country  is  only  the  aggregate  of  individuals.  The  country  is 
a  very  much  vaster  reservoir  than  Mr.  Vanderbilt's  fortune,  but 
nevertheless  it  can  finally  be  exhausted,  and  so  far  it  has  only 
been  saved  from  exhaustion  on  account  of  the  vast  streams  of 
Avealth  that  have  been  poured  into  it  from  the  fertile  fields  of 
the  West,  from  the  plantations  of  the  South  which  have  bur- 
dened the  channels  of  commerce  with  its  fleecy  tribute,  from 
the  grassy  plains,  tramped  by  millions  of  cattle  and  sheep,  of 
the  centre  of  the  continent,  and  from  the  golden  sands  of  Cali- 
fornia and  the  silver  hills  of  Nevada,  Colorado,  and  the  Ter- 
ritories. 

This  is  the  reason,  and  this  alone,  why  we  have  not  sooner 
experienced  the  impoverishing  effects  of  the  Unwise  Laws  of 
which  this  little  volume  speaks. 

And  we  can  now  see  plainly  why  these  unwise  laws  must  in 
the  future  exert  their  injurious  effects  with  increasing  force. 
The  weight  that  a  strong  and  healthy  man  can  carry  with  ease 
is  felt  with  crushing  force  by  the  man  enfeebled  with  disease 
or  exhausted  with  arduous  labor. 

As  long  as  the  agriculturist  could  purchase  for  $1.25  or 
thereabouts  per  acre  land  that  would  readily  produce  twenty  or 
twenty-five  bushels  of   wheat  and  fifty  bushels  of    corn,   he 


UNWISE   LAWS.  113 

thought  little  or  cared  little  if  that  return  was  diminished  by 
any  occult  means  ;  as  long  as  it  was  not  actually  stolen  from 
him  he  cared  not  how  otherwise  it  might  be  reduced  ;  he  still 
had  more  than  enough  for  himself  ;  and  it  is  only  when  he  be- 
gins to  feel  poverty  pinch  that  he  thinks  of  the  matter  at  all. 
But  when  he  finds  that  the  easy  process  of  shifting  his  abode 
when  he  has  worn  out  his  land  and  buying  good  land  further 
West  at  $1.25  an  acre  is  put  a  stop  to,  and  that  he  must  either 
continue  to  cultivate  his  impoverished  farm  or  pay  for  one  acre 
what  would  formerly  buy  ten  or  twenty  acres,  he  finds  himself 
confronted  with  a  serious  difficulty,  and  that  difficulty  is  to 
make  former  expenditure  match  reduced  income  ;  in  other 
words,  he  finds  himself,  if  not  confronted  with  poverty,  at  least 
confronted  with  a  cessation  of  the  growth  of  wealth.  If  he 
does  not  get  poor,  he  ceases  to  grow  rich,  and  he  must  econo- 
mize. 

Now  what  applies  to  an  agriculturist  applies  to  the  whole 
body  of  farmers.  The  virgin  lands  at  government  price  are 
nearly  all  exhausted,  and  have  now  to  be  obtained  at  second 
hand,  at  from  $5  "to  %\o  and  $20  and  upwards  an  acre.  Hav- 
ing now  to  pay  these  prices  for  virgin  lands  of  course  requires 
much  larger  capital,  and  hence  even  with  same  crops  less  profit 
is  made  at  farming,  and  the  older  lands  being  yearly  impaired 
in  fertility,  they  likewise  yield  less  profit,  and  thus  the  whole 
agricultural  population  find  their  resources  diminished  and  the 
country  finds  itself  impoverished.  Having  now  less  to  spend 
they  cannot  stand  the  drafts  that  were  formerly  made  upon 
them,  so  that  if  the  drafts  continue  to  be  drawn,  coming  as  they 
do  upon  less  capacity  to  stand  them,  the  impoverishment  must 
continue  with  accelerated  speed.  When  one  has  a  thousand 
dollars  in  bank  he  can  easily  pay  drafts  to  that  amount,  but  if 
after  he  has  exhausted  his  deposit  an  additional  draft  of  only 
ten  dollars  is  presented  a  protest  must  follow. 

As  long  as  the  agriculturist  had  fresh  land  that  would  pro- 
duce twenty  bushels  of  wheat  at  a  cost  of  only  $1.25   an  acre, 


114  UNWISE  LAWS. 

he  did  not  heed  the  fact  that  if  he  sent  one  thousand  bushels 
of  wheat  to  Liverpool,  on  which  he  paid  freight  and  charges 
the  whole  way,  to  be  returned  to  him  in  the  shape  of  blankets, 
iron,  salt,  crockery,  etc.,  when  these  goods  were  landed,  say  in 
New  York  or  Chicago,  on  which  goods  he  likewise  paid  freight 
and  charges,  thus  paying  all  the  expense  of  carriage  and  of  pur- 
chase and  sale  both  ways,  the  agent  of  the  government  would  say 
to  him  :  "  I  see  you  have  twenty  blankets,  I  must  take  ten  of 
them  ;  here  are  one  hundred  yards  of  carpet,  I  must  take  forty 
of  them  ;  or  one  hundred  yards  of  flannel,  I  must  take  the  same 
as  of  carpet.  Here  is  a  lot  of  metal  goods,  I  must  take  one- 
fourth  of  all  of  them.  Of  crockery,  I  must  take  thirty-five 
pieces  out  of  every  hundred,"  and  so  on  to  salt,  where  of  every 
hundred  sacks  he  must  take  thirty  ;  when,  I  say,  land  was 
cheap  and  crops  large  he  did  not  notice  these  heavy  drains 
upon  his  income,  for  he  could  pay  them  and  still  have  enough. 
But  now  that  there  are  no  new  lands  to  take  up  ;  now  that 
there  is  no  more  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  ;  no  more  Iowa, 
Kansas,  and  Nebraska  to  bury  the  plough  deep  in  their  un- 
touched bosom  ;  no  more  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Arkansas, 
no  more  Texas, — an  empire  in  itself  equal  to  France  and  Eng- 
land combined,  from  which  to  gather  the  staple  that  clothes 
the  world  ;  no  more  golden  California  and  silver  Nevada  to 
pour  their  metallic  showers  into  the  national  garner, — now  that 
all  these  are  coming  to  be  things  of  the  past,  how  can  the 
people,  how  can  the  country  stand  the  drain  of  the  laws  that 
require  such  sacrifices. 

As  well  expect  the  Mediterranean  to  maintain  its  level,  if 
from  some  convulsion  of  nature,  its  waters  flowed  into  the 
Atlantic,  instead  of  as  now  the  Atlantic  flows  into  the  Medi- 
terranean, as  to  expect  continued  prosperity  in  this  country 
under  the  operation  of  our  present  (so  called)  protective  sys- 
tem. In  the  competition  now  overspreading  the  world,  it  re- 
quires energy,  skill,  and  intelligence  to  hold  one's  own,  whether 
individual  or  nation,  but  when  a  tax,  in  addition  to  what  all 


UNWISE  LAWS.  115 

bear,  of  at  least  from  one  fourth  to  one  third  is  laid  upon  the 
products  of  agriculture,  what  can  be  the  result  but  stagnation, 
poverty,  and  hardship. 

We  must  not  only  reform  our  financial  and  fiscal  legislation, 
but  we  must  cut  up  by  the  roots  the  principle  of  protection, 
for  till  that  is  done  the  germ  will  remain,  and  that  will  forever 
and  eternally  spring  up,  to  vex  and  impoverish  the  land,  and 
to  occupy  the  time  of  Congress,  by  one  side  promoting  partial 
legislation  and  the  other  opposing  ;  by  one  side  striving  to  gain 
special  advantages,  and  by  the  other  endeavoring  to  prevent. 
In  another  chapter,  I  will  submit  a  system  of  revenue  that  will 
do  justice  to  all,  and  will  therefore  promote  the  highest  wel- 
fare of  the  country  and  ensure  for  us  a  steady  and  assured 
prosperity. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

UNDER  A  PROTECTIVE  SYSTEM,  RECIPROCITY  TREATIES, 
FREE  RAW  MATERIALS,  AND  FREE  SHIPS  ARE  ONLY  OTHER 
FORMS   OF   PROTECTION. 

Are  not  reciprocity  treaties,  free  raw  materials,  and  free 
ships  good  things  ?  Yes,  they  are,  considered  in  themselves 
alone  and  apart  from  other  considerations.  Then  why  oppose 
them  ?  For  the  simple  reason,  that  we  can  have  none  of  these 
good  things,  except  at  the  expense  of  the  greater  evil  of  per- 
petrating in  another  form  the  evils  charged  in  previous  chapters 
against  protection.  For  what  is  protection  ?  As  said  before, 
protection  is  the  granting  of  privileges  to  some  which  all  do 
not  enjoy,  the  bestowing  of  advantages  upon  the  few  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  many.  Take  away  the  inequality,  the  par- 
tiality, the  favoritism  of  protection,  and  it  loses  all  its  charm  in 
the  eyes  of  its  ardent  advocates,  and  it  becomes  a  thing  to  be 
despised  and  to  be  derided. 

For  instance,   take    a    reciprocity   treaty  with  Canada  :    al- 


Il6  UNWISE  LAWS. 

though  pertinent  to  the  question,  we  will  not  dwell  upon  the 
point  that,  if  such  a  treaty  with  Canada  is  beneficial,  reci- 
procity treaties  with  other  countries  ought  also  to  be  beneficial, 
and  if  it  is  found  advisable  to  enter  into  such  a  treaty  with 
Canada,  why  will  it  not  be  equally  advisable  to  reciprocate 
with  every  government  ?  If  the  barriers  to  intercourse  are 
broken  down  on  the  side  of  Canada,  why  not  break  them 
down  in  all  directions  ? 

In  a  reciprocity  treaty  with  Canada,  the  articles  we  should 
probably  get  free  from  her  would  be  animals  and  fish,  which 
now  pay  a  duty  of  20  per  cent.,  wool  which  pays  about  45  per 
cent.,  lumber  which  pays  about  15  per  cent.,  and  barley  which 
pays  10  cents  a  bushel.  There  would  of  course  be  other 
articles,  but  these  would  be  the  principal. 

Under  such  a  state  of  affairs,  those  who  lived  adjacent  or 
convenient  to  the  Canadian  border  would  obtain  these  things 
free  of  duty,  while  those  who  lived  remote  from  Canada  would 
have  to  pay  full  duties  on  them  when  imported  from  other 
countries.  We  should  thus  have  the  spectacle  of  A.,  who  was 
convenient  to  Canada,  buying  a  horse  for  $100,  and  bringing 
him  across  the  border  free,  while  B.,  who  lived  convenient  to 
Mexico,  in  buying  in  Mexico  a  horse  worth  $100,  would  have 
to  pay  ^20  to  the  custom-house  before  he  could  get  possession 
of  his  horse.  A  party  importing  $100  worth  of  wool,  from 
Canada  has  nothing  additional  to  pay  in  order  to  get  it  into 
his  mill,  while  a  party  in  Virginia,  who  is  too  remote  from 
Canada,  to  avail  himself  of  the  advantage  of  the  treaty,  has  to 
pay  the  government  $45  on  the  same  value  of  wool  imported 
from  some  other  country.  Every  one  can  make  for  himself 
the  application  regarding  other  articles  embraced  in  such  a 
treaty.  On  the  other  hand,  suppose  a  reciprocity  treaty  with 
Mexico.  In  this  case,  the  neighboring  Southern  States  will 
reap  almost  the  whole  of  the  advantages,  while  the  more  re- 
mote States  would  derive  no  benefit  whatever  from  the  treaty. 
There  is  now  in  existence,  or  if  not  it  has  only  lately  expired, 


UNWISE  LAWS.  117 

a  reciprocity  treaty  with  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  who  is 
benefited  !  California  alone,  for  while  she  gets  $100  worth 
of  sugar  for  $100,  all  the  balance  of  the  country  pays  $154 
for  the  same  quantity  of  sugar,  and  while  California  obtains 
$100  worth  of  rice  for  $100,  the  country  at  large  pays 
$204,60  for  the  same  amount. 

We  can  thus  see  plainly  that  reciprocity  treaties  present  the 
worst  phases  of  protection,  for  they  necessarily  act  unequally 
in  different  sections  of  the  country.  Every  one  can  see  the 
justice  of  all  paying  the  same  duties,  however  burdensome  they 
may  be,  but  no  one  can  see  the  justice  of  one  man  paying  $154, 
for  what  another  pays  only  $100,  or  of  one  man  paying  $200, 
for  what  another  pays  $100,  or  even  of  one  man  paying  $115, 
for  lumber,  which  another  obtains  for  $100. 

Away  with  special  reciprocity  treaties.  AH  hail  to  general 
reciprocity  treaties. 

Now  as  to  free  ships  !  As  long  as  taxes,  and  onerous 
taxes,  too,  have  to  be  paid,  why  should  a  man  be  exempted 
because  he  desires  to  buy  a  ship  abroad  ?  The  buyers  of 
cloth  have  to  pay  duties  ;  the  buyers  of  machinery  have  to 
pay  duties  ;  even  the  buyers  of  books  have  to  pay  duties  ; 
and  why,  in  the  name  of  reason,  should  not  the  buyers 
of  ships  ?  Does  the  ownership  of  vessels  bestow  any  special 
advantage  ^n  the  way  of  promoting  national  wealth  ?  Or 
does  the  possession  of  ships  increase  the  national  virtues,  or 
the  national  intelligence,  or  the  national  gallantry  ?  No  one 
pretends  that  the  ownership  of  vessels  does  any  of  these  things. 
Then  why  the  constant  and  persistent  cry  for  free  ships  ?  It 
arises  partly  from  demagoguery,  but  mainly  from  national 
vanity  and  national  jealousy.  The  demagogue  cries  out  free 
ships,  because  he  hears  talk  of  free  ships,  and  he  is  naturally  in 
favor  of  every  thing.  National  vanity  cries  out  for  free  ships, 
for  it  remembers  the  time  when  the  United  States  was  second 
only  to  Great  Britain  on  the  seas,  and  it  vainly  imagines  that  a 
few  ships  bought  abroad  and  imported  free  will  restore  our 


Il8  UNWISE  LAWS. 

prestige,  and  national  jealousy  cries  out  for  free  ships,  for  it 
begrudges  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  and  Norway 
the  profits  they  honestly  earn  as  carriers  of  our  merchandise, 
and  they  too  think  that  a  few  ships  bought  abroad  and  imported 
free  will  snatch  these  profits  from  their  grasp.  Vain  de- 
lusions all,  for  the  capital  and  the  energies  of  the  people  have 
taken  a  different  direction.  They  have  turned  their  faces  from 
the  ocean  towards  the  land,  and  they  have  preferred  to  see  the 
continent  girdled  with  rails  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
and  from  the  frozen  dominions  of  the  widowed  queen  to  the 
warm  waters  of  the  Gulf,  to  seeing  the  ocean  whitened  with 
their  sails  or  blackened  with  the  smoke  of  their  steamers.  Two 
passions  cannot  occupy  the  soul  at  the  same  time  ;  so  two  ab- 
sorbing and  separate  interests  cannot  engross  a  nation  at  the 
same  time.  With  our  boundless  and  virgin  continent  before  our 
eyes,  we  could  not  help  embracing  her  with  all  our  energies, 
and  to  embrace  the  continent  means  to  forsake  the  sea.  We 
had  to  choose  one  or  the  other,  and  having  chosen  the  land, 
we  must  be  content  to  leave  the  mastery  of  the  w^aters  to  others. 
Free  ships,  therefore,  are  not  only  unsound  in  an  economical 
point  of  view,  but  free  ships  are  also  utterly  useless  as  a  means 
of  regaining  our  lost  influence  on  the  ocean,  for  that  influence 
is  gone  for  the  present  and  perhaps  forever. 

And  let  us  now  approach  the  subject  of  free  raw  materials. 
We  will  not  stop  here  to  discuss  what  are  raw  materials,  but  we 
will  accept  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt's  definition  of  them,  and  say 
they  are  coal,  iron  ore,  and  perhaps  pig-iron.  Mr.  Hewitt  is 
the  apostle  of  free  raw  materials  ;  but  he  is  a  large  consumer 
of  coal  and  iron  ore,  and  he  therefore  occupies  an  unfortunate 
position,  and  one  open  to  criticism.  How^ever  sound  his  posi- 
tion might  be,  he  might  reasonably  be  charged  with  interested 
views  ;  but  when  he  occupies  an  entirely  untenable  position, 
the  charge  of  interested  views  comes  with  such  force  that  his 
advocacy  of  reform  of  the  tariff  when  coupled  witli  the  free 
admission  of  what  he  so  largely  consumes  will  be  shorn  of 
much  of  its  influence. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  119 

Free  raw  materials,  like  reciprocity  treaties,  when  they  stand 
alone  are  good  things,  and  if  we  were  mainly  dependent  on 
manufacturers,  as  Great  Britain  is,  it  would  be  essential  to 
allow  the  free  entry  of  crude  materials,  which  are  the  basis  of 
all  manufactures  ;  but  when  free  raw  materials  are  taken  in 
connection  with  our  onerous  tariff  system,  which  taxes  heavily 
most  things  that  are  imported,  there  is  no  more  reason  for 
freeing  raw  materials  from  their  ratio  of  taxation  than  there  is 
for  freeing  salt,  wool,  hay,  and  other  crude  materials. 

Mr.  Hewitt  says,  let  my  raw  materials  come  in  free,  so  that 
I  may  make  my  wire  and  my  machinery  cheaper.  But  when  the 
Western  Union  comes  along  and  says,  let  my  raw  material,  wire, 
come  in  free,  Mr.  Hewitt  interposes  and  says.  Oh  no,  you  must 
pay  a  duty  of  forty-five  per  cent.,  for  /  must  be  protected  ; 
.and  when  the  purchaser  of  Mr.  Hewitt's  iron  bridges  or  of  his 
machinery  says  the  bridges  are  the  raw  materials  of  the  rail- 
road, and  the  machines  are  the  very  basis  or  foundation  of  my 
manufactures  ;  without  them  I  could  not  bring  forth  a  single 
item,  of  my  product,  and  they  are  therefore  7ny  raw  material, 
Mr.  Hewitt  interposes  the  same  objection  and  says,  I  require 
protection,  and  you  must  pay  the  same  duty  of  forty-five  per 
cent.  But  granting  Mr.  Hewitt  is  right,  and  that  coal  and  iron 
ore  should  come  in  free,  how  would  the  producers  of  these 
articles  be  affected  thereby  ?  It  will,  I  think,  be  admitted  by 
all  that  our  tariff  raises  the  price  of  things  generally — that  it 
makes  our  houses  cost  more,  our  clothing  cost  more,  our  food 
cost  more,  every  thing  we  purchase  cost  more  ;  it  makes  labor 
cost  more.  Now,  then,  our  raiser  of  coal  and  our  digger  of 
iron  ore  finds  himself  under  the  necessity  of  paying  more  for 
the  tools  and  machinery  he  necessarily  requires,  more  for  his 
mules,  more  for  his  labor  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case 
under  no  tariff.  In  other  words,  his  coal  and  his  iron  ore  cost 
him  more  by  reason  of  the  tariff.  Of  course  if  they  cost  him 
more  he  must  get  more  for  his  goods,  in  order  to  make  a  living 
out  of  his  business,  and  he  is  enabled  to  obtain  this  increased 


120  UNWISE  LAWS. 

price  by  reason  of  the  tariff,  which  keeps  out  competition.  At 
best  he  can  make  only  an  ordinary  profit  out  of  his  business, 
for  if  he  made  extra  profit  the  flow  of  capital  into  his  business 
would  be  so  large  and  so  rapid  the  profits  would  soon  be 
brought  down  again  to  the  average.  Now  Mr.  Hewitt  and 
others  require  him,  by  virtue  of  the  tariff  under  which  they 
shield  themselves,  to  raise  his  coal  and  iron  ore  at  an  increased 
cost,  yet  they  come  to  him  and  say,  we  are  going  to  take  away 
your  breastworks,  and  you  must  henceforth  fight  out  in  the 
open.  What  is  the  consequence  ?  The  consequence  is  that, 
bearing  all  the  burdens  of  an  onerous  tariff  and  receiving  none 
of  its  benefits,  he  necessarily  succumbs  and  fails  in  the  unequal 
contest.  It  is  the  old  story  over  again  of  the  white  man  and 
the  Indian.  The  white  man  said  to  the  Indian,  I  '11  take  the 
turkey  and  you  take  the  buzzard,  or  you  may  take  the  buzzard 
and  I  '11  take  the  turkey.  Free  raw  materials  is  protection  in 
its  most  odious  form,  because  it  makes  coal-mining  and  iron- 
ore  digging,  which  are  two  of  the  hardest  and  most  disagreea- 
ble employments,  bear  not  only  their  own  burdens  but  also  the 
burdens  of  the  more  advanced  employments,  which  are 
attended  with  the  most  ease  and  honor,  and  frequently  with 
the  most  profit. 

Let  us  have  free  raw  materials  by  all  means,  but  let  us  also, 
at  the  same  time,  have  those  things  free  which  are  made  of  free 
raw  materials.  Let  us  not  make  flesh  of  one  and  fowl  of 
another,  but  let  us  treat  all  alike,  for  all  are  necessary  elements 
of  the  production  of  wealth  and  of  the  happiness  that  usually 
springs  from  wealth.  Some  may  be  cavalry,  some  artillery, 
and  some  infantry  ;  some  generals,  some  captains,  and  some 
privates,  but  all  are  necessary  for  the  completeness  of  the 
army.  Treat  all  employments  and  all  occupations  alike,  and, 
like  an  army  in  which  all  branches  are  equally  fostered,  the 
community  will  progress  in  all  the  elements  that  go  to  make  a 
nation  prosperous,  happy,  and  great. 

A  few  words  as  to    what  are  raw   materials,  and   we   will 


UNWISE  LAWS.  121 

close  the  chapter.  What  are  raw  materials  ?  Raw  materials 
are  in  reality  that  thing  or  those  things  that  are  at  the  founda- 
tion of,  and  are  essential  to,  any  product  or  material.  Thus 
iron  ore  and  coal  or  fuel  are  the  raw  materials  of  pig-iron,  for 
they  are  essential  to  the  production  of  pig-iron,  and  without 
their  joint  use  there  could  be  no  pig-iron.  But  pig-iron  after 
it  is  made,  unless  intended  as  the  raw  material  of  some  higher 
product,  is  as  useless  as  the  boulders  that  cover  the  moraines 
of  an  Alpine  glacier.  So  pig-iron  in  turn  becomes  the  raw 
material  of  refined  bar-iron,  and  bar-iron  is  itself  useless  until 
made  the  raw  material  of  something  higher.  By  degrees  this 
bar-iron,  either  as  iron  or  as  steel,  becomes  a  delicate  and 
complicated  machine,  or  a  watch  spring,  or  a  keen  and  highly 
tempered  surgical  instrument.  But  this  intricate  machine,  this 
delicate  spring,  this  polished  blade  are  by  themselves  no  more 
than  the  crude  coal  and  ore,  and  they  only  become  available 
when  the  machine  is  made  one  of  the  essential  elements,  and 
therefore  in  part  the  raw  material,  in  the  production  of  some 
beautiful  fabric,  when  the  spring  in  the  hands  of  the  watch- 
maker becomes  one  of  the  raw  materials  of  a  watch,  and  when 
the  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  skilful  surgeon  becomes  the 
essential  means,  and  therefore  the  raw  material  in  his  hands, 
of  cutting  off  the  arm  or  the  leg  of  some  victim  of  a  railroad 
accident.  Sand  and  alkali  are  the  raw  materials  of  glass,  and 
so  in  turn  the  largest  object-glass,  turned  out  from  the  shop  of 
Mr.  Alvin  Clark  at  an  expense  of  thousands  of  dollars,  is  in 
itself  as  useless  and  valueless  as  its  original  elements,  until  it 
becomes  one  of  the  raw  materials  of  a  magnificent  telescope 
to  descry  new  worlds.  The  finest  cloths  of  England,  the  most 
beautiful  silks  of  France,  and  the  most  gossamer-like  lawns  of 
India  are  useless  until  the  cloth  in  the  hands  of  the  tailor  be- 
comes one  of  the  raw  materials  of  the  modern  dude,  and  the 
silks  and  the  lawns  in  the  hands  of  a  Worth  become,  in  part, 
the  raw  material  of  the  belles  that  glide  through  the  mazes  of 
the  german  at  city  balls,  and  who  enliven  the  drives  of  New- 
port during  the  summer. 


122  UNWISE  LAWS. 

Raw  material  is  a  convenient  term  which  means  every 
thing  and  which  means  nothing,  and  Mr.  Hewitt  has  no  more 
right  to  restrict  it  to  those  things  that  he  finds  it  profitable  to 
use,  than  a  tailor  has  to  restrict  it  to  cloths  and  cassimeres,  a 
dressmaker  to  silks,  satins,  and  worsteds,  or  a  shoemaker  to 
leather,  and  say  that  they  must  be  free  and  every  thing  else  be 
taxed. 

The  cry  of  free  raw  materials  is  equally  a  fraud  and  a  de- 
lusion as  is  the  cry  of  free  ships  or  a  reciprocity  treaty. 
They  are  all  good,  but  good  only  when  they  are  part  of  a 
system  which  is  itself  all  free,  or  all  bearing  the  same  burden. 

Note. — It  has  been  suggested  by  a  judicious  friend  of  reform  that  I  am 
defeating  my  own  object,  which  is  a  thorough  reform  of  our  financial  system, 
in  opposing  free  ships,  free  raw  materials,  and  reciprocity  treaties.  If  such 
■will  be  the  effect,  it  will  be  a  cause  of  great  regret,  for  I  believe  in  the  homely 
adage  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no  bread  ;  so  a  reform  in  part,  even 
though  it  fall  far  short  of  the  necessities  of  our  situation,  is  much  preferable 
to  no  reform  at  all.  But  the  difficulty  I  fear  in  piece-meal  reform  is,  that 
when  those  who  are  specially  benefited  by  any  reform  procure  what  they 
desire,  they  will  then,  having  nothing  specially  to  contend  for,  falter  in  the 
course  of  further  reform  and  will  desert  the  cause  altogether.  If  the  vantage- 
ground  gained  by  one  reform  be  made  use  of  as  a  standpoint  for  further 
progress,  I  will  join  heartily  in  securing  even  the  smallest  reforms  ;  but  if 
the  gaining  of  one  reform  is  to  be  availed  of,  as  is  my  fear,  for  the  purposes 
of  sloth  and  indifference  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  benefited,  it  will  then, 
in  my  opinion,  be  preferable  to  compel  all  to  wait  until  a  complete  victory 
can  be  gained,  in  the  fruits  of  which  all  may  impartially  share. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

HOW  THESE  UNWISE  LAWS  SHUT  US  OUT  OF  THE  MARKETS  OF 
THE  WORLD  AND  CONFINE  US  TO  THE  HOME  MARKET. 

In  the  progress  of  industrial  development  we  have  reached 
a  point  where  enlarged  outlets  for  production  are  essential  in 
order  to  prevent  disaster.  We  have  reached  a  point,  through 
the  persistent  fostering  of  manufactures  at  the  expense  of  all 


UNWISE  LAWS.  123 

Other  interests,  where  manufacturing  power  is  vastly  in  excess 
of  the  power  of  consumption  by  the  home  market.  We  have 
reached  a  point  where,  if  manufacturing  power  should  be  em- 
ployed at  its  full  capacity  for  twelve  months,  the  supply  of 
manufactures  would  be  so  great  that  the  country  would  re- 
semble the  land  of  Egypt  during  the  prevalence  of  the  plague 
of  frogs.  Frogs  were  then  in  so  great  supply  that  the 
delicacy  of  frog's  legs  was  entirely  at  a  discount,  and  frogs 
themselves  invaded  every  spot  so  recklessly  and  so  regardless 
of  the  wishes  of  the  people  that  they  became  a  perfect  nuisance. 
So  in  the  case  of  manufactures,  they  would  then  be  so  abun- 
dant we  would  not  be  able  to  procure  the  customary  amount 
of  food  ;  they  would  be  so  abundant  the  dwelling-houses  would 
have  to  be  resorted  to  in  order  to  protect  them  from  the  ele- 
ments, and  the  vacant  lots  in  cities  would  have  to  be  made  use 
of  to  pile  up  pig-iron,  coal,  lumber,  and  other  articles  that 
could  stand  the  weather.  Manufactures  would  be  in  every- 
body's way.  Instead  of  talking  about  the  weather  everybody 
would  talk  manufactured  goods,  and  instead  of  the  constant 
inquiry  "  how  is  business  "  the  staple  inquiry  would  be  how 
are  manufactures.  The  whole  end  and  aim  of  existence  would 
be  to  dispose  of  manufactures.  Instead  of  science  and  art,  music 
and  painting,  singing  and  acting,  prohibition  and  temperance, 
morals  and  religion,  the  conversation  would  be  of  nails  and 
spikes,  rails  and  locomotives,  brass  and  iron,  glass  and  crockery, 
dry  goods  and  wet  goods,  and  the  whole  list  of  manufactures  that 
mankind  use  in  any  way.  People  would  have  to  dream  manu- 
factures, to  think  manufactures,  and  they  would  have  to  talk 
manufactures.  When  they  looked  at  the  sun  they  would  not 
regard  it  as  the  great  and  only  source  of  life  and  beauty,  of 
health  and  happiness,  but  they  would  regard  it  simply  as  the 
source  of  so  much  power  to  be  used  in  running  machinery. 
When  they  considered  the  atmosphere,  whether  in  its  more 
pleasing  aspect  of  grateful  zephyrs  fanning  fevered  cheeks,  or 
in  its  more  awful  manifestation  of  the  blizzard  on  land  or  the 


124  UNWISE  LAWS. 

cyclone  on  water,  they  would  only  regard  it  as  so  much  power 
to  be  applied  to  windmills  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
stores  of  manufactured  goods,  and  when  they  gazed  on 
Niagara,  instead  of  being  inspired  and  elevated  by  the  sublime 
spectacle,  they  would  rather  concern  themselves  solely  with 
calculating  the  number  of  horse-power  that  the  torrent  could 
be  converted  into. 

But  instead  of  employing  all  this  manufacturing  power  at  its 
full  capacity,  it  is  either  voluntarily  run  on  short  time,  or  bank- 
ruptcy frequently  compels  its  stoppage  altogether,  or  a  com- 
bination of  manufacturers  may  buy  off  competitors  by  paying 
them  annually  their  estimated  profits,  and  having  them  close 
their  factories.  For  instance,  the  wall-paper  manufacturers 
work  under  a  combination.  After  they  had  gotten  their  com- 
bination at  work,  and  were,  under  the  tariff,  making  large 
profits,  several  rivals  sprang  up.  But  what  did  the  combina- 
tion do  ?  They  went  to  these  smaller  manufacturers,  and  asked 
them  how  much  they  expected  to  make  annually,  and  when 
they  were  told  $5,000,  they  said  :  Come,  shut  up  your  factories 
altogether,  and  we  will  pay  you  that  sum  every  year  to  do  noth- 
ing. This  was  four  or  five  years  ago,  and  ever  since  then  this 
combination  of  wall-paper  manufacturers  has  been  paying 
these  four  rivals  twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  remain  idle. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  prove  that  manufacturing  power  is 
vastly  in  excess  of  the  demand  for  its  products,  and  that 
therefore  much  of  this  machinery  must  remain  idle  for  much  of 
the  time,  for  the  fact  is  apparent  to  every  one.  Well,  what  is  the 
effect  of  this  idleness  ?  The  effect  is,  of  course,  to  raise  the 
cost  of  the  goods  manufactured  by  this  machinery.  For  in- 
stance, we  will  represent  the  annual  cost  of  a  plant  including 
interest,  management,  and  depreciation,  at  ten  per  cent,  of  its 
capacity  at  full  time.  But  if  this  plant  runs  only  half-time 
and  turns  out  only  half  the  goods,  the  cost  of  manufacture 
will  evidently  be  twenty  per  cent.,  instead  of  ten  per  cent.  As 
the  capacity  to  manufacture  is  fully  double  the  capacity  of  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  125 

market  to  consume,  this  fact  of  extra  cost  of  goods  on  account 
of  idleness  of  machinery,  applies  to  manufactured  goods  gen- 
erally, and  therefore,  in  this  respect,  our  manufactures  cost  us 
fully  ten  per  cent,  too  much.  We  have  here  one  of  the  reasons 
why  we  are  shut  out  of  the  markets  of  the  world,  because  our 
manufactured  goods  cost  us  too  much.  And  they  cost  us  too 
much  because  the  unwise  laws,  principally  "protective,"  of 
which  we  are  writing  are  directly  responsible  for  this  increase 
of  manufacturing  power  to  double  the  extent  of  our  require- 
ments. 

Another  reason  for  too  high  cost  of  our  goods,  and  there- 
fore another  reason  for  their  exclusion  from  foreign  markets, 
is  this  : 

Whenever  one  has  a  large  margin  of  profit,  he  is  not  solici- 
tous about  means  or  devices  for  enlarging  that  profit,  and  as 
long  as  that  profit  continues  considerable,  even  though  much 
reduced,  he  will  not  take  steps,  provided  they  cost  much 
thought,  to  repair  the  depreciation  of  profit.  It  will  be  easier 
for  him  to  go  on  without  much  care,  than  to  investigate  the 
decrease  of  his  profits,  and  to  find  out  where  the  cause  lies 
and  to  apply  the  remedy.  To  most  people  a  good  income 
without  labor  or  anxiety  is  preferable  to  riches,  if  these  have 
to  be  acquired  by  constant  watchfulness,  and  by  the  continual 
exercise  of  mind  and  body.  Thus  when  the  protective  tariff 
places,  for  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturer,  impediments  in  the 
path  of  consumers  of  from  fifteen  to  one  hundred  per  cent.,  in 
their  efforts  to  procure  goods  made  abroad,  averaging  for  the 
whole  list  of  imported  merchandise,  excluding  free  goods  such 
as  coffee  and  tea,  at  least  42  percent.,  the  home  manufacturer  is 
granted  such  an  advantage  that  he  has,  at  the  outset,  a  very  large 
margin  of  profit  to  go  upon.  Thus  for  the  fiscal  year,  ending 
June  30,  1884,  the  manufacturer  of  woollen  goods  enjoyed  on  his 
class  of  goods  actually  imported,  a  protection  or  a  margin  of 
profit  of  66  per  cent.,  and  when  one  remembers  that  the  duty  on 
some  woollen  goods  is  prohibitive,  the  margin  is  even  larger 


126  UNWISE  LAWS. 

{.han  dd  per  cent.  The  manufacturer  of  iron  in  its  various 
forms  enjoyed  a  margin  of  45  per  cent.,  of  glass  and  earthen- 
ware 55  per  cent.,  of  silk  50  per  cent.,  of  cotton  goods  40  per 
cent.,  and  so  on.  Now  here  is  an  enormous  margin  to  draw 
upon  to  alloAV  for  carelessness,  for  wastefulness,  for  ignorance 
of  the  manufacturer.  Some  manufacturers  by  their  great  skill 
reap  almost  the  whole  of  this  margin  of  profit  :  hence  we  see 
great  numbers  of  enormously  wealthy  manufacturers  ;  some  are 
careless,  or  wasteful,  or  ignorant,  and  they  reap  only  a  portion 
of  this  margin,  while  some  who  are  careless,  wasteful,  and  ig- 
norant fail  altogether. 

As  we  said  before,  when  one  has  such  a  large  margin  to  go 
upon,  although  he  might  reap  the  whole  advantage  of  it  if  he 
worked  to  full  advantage,  yet  if  he  cannot  make  the  full  margm 
of  40,  50,  or  65  per  cent.,  he  is  very  well  content  to  make  the 
half  of  it  ;  hence  he  may  naturally  neglect  to  give  very  close 
supervision  to  the  process  of  manufacture  and  to  the  con- 
duct of  his  superintendents  and  laborers.  He  is  not  on  the 
constant  look-out  for  defects  in  his  methods  in  order  to  im- 
prove them,  and  he  shuns,  except  under  the  spur  of  absolute 
necessity,  inventions  and  improvements,  for  they  necessitate 
the  annoyance  and  the  expense  of  changes  of  machinery.  He 
neglects  small  economies  and  he  proceeds  in  an  easy,  careless, 
happy-go-lucky  manner,  and  thus  turns  out  his  products  at 
an  expense  entirely  desproportioned  to  what  is  necessary.  All 
this  extra  cost  makes  to  the  manufacturer  only  the  difference 
between  a  very  large  profit,  and  a  large  profit,  for  the  law  has 
given  him  the  market,  and  his  fellow-citizens  must  bear  the 
loss  His  fellow-citizen  has  to  bear  not  only  the  immense 
profit  of  the  manufacturer  who  is  the  perfect  master  of  his  busi- 
ness, and  the  extra  cost  of  the  goods  of  the  careless  manufac- 
turer, but  also  the  total  losses  of  the  careless,  wasteful  and  ig- 
norant manufacturer.  All  these — the  large  profits,  the  moder- 
ate profits,  and  the  losses,  partial  and  total,  add  to  the  cost  of 
goods,  and  although  the  home  consumer  must  buy  them,  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  127 

foreign  consumer  is  under  no  necessity  to  do  so,  and  he  will 
not  buy  them  because  they  are  too  high,  and  they  are  therefore 
excluded  from  foreign  markets. 

Here  then  is  a  second  grand  reason  why  we  are  shut 
out  of  the  markets  of  the  world  :  Our  so-called  protective 
tariff  assures  such  large  margin  of  profits  to  the  manufacturer, 
he  becomes  wasteful  and  extravagant,  and  ignorant  men  en- 
gage in  manufactures,  and  therefore  the  goods  cost  so  much 
foreigners  will  not  buy  them. 

There  is  another  great  cause  why  we  cannot  secure  the  for- 
eign markets  for  our  manufactures.  It  is  an  accepted  axiom 
that  taxes  add  to  the  cost  of  goods,  in  proportion  to  the  magni- 
tude of  the  tax.  Our  duties  on  imported  goods  are  taxes  on 
them,  and  therefore  they  add  very  largely  to  their  cost,  for  the 
duties  are  very  high.  '  They  not  only  add  to  the  cost  of  the 
imported  article,  but  they  add  in  an  almost  equal  degree  to  the 
cost  of  the  similar  goods  made  at  home,  for  the  manufacturer 
of  such  goods,  except  in  a  period  of  glut  or  of  crisis,  sells  his 
goods  only  sufficiently  below  the  foreign  article  plus  the  duties 
and  transportation  to  exclude  them  from  the  market.  For  ex- 
ample, the  cost  of  a  foreign  article  laid  down  in  New  York 
will  be  $1.00  say,  and  the  duty  is  50  per  cent.  The  cost  of 
this  article  will  be  $1.50,  and  it  cannot  be  sold  for  less  except 
at  a  loss.  Now  here  is  a  home  manufacturer  of  the  same  arti- 
cle, but  he  can  exclude  it  effectually,  by  selling  his  product 
for  $1.45.  Hence  not  a  yard  or  a  pound  of  some  article  may 
now  be  imported,  and  yet  the  consumer  will  pay  almost  the 
whole  of  the  duty  to  the  home  manufacturer. 

These  high  duties  will  finally  diffuse  themselves  over  the 
whole  country,  and  a  general  level  of  high  cost  will  be  es- 
tablished on  every  thing.  If  one  builds  a  house  he  will  feel 
the  effect  of  these  high  duties  in  the  extra  cost  of  his  house, 
from  the  moment  he  sticks  a  i)ick  in  the  ground  to  excavate 
the  foundation,  to  the  moment  the  painter  or  the  decorator  adds 
the  final  touches.     The  excavator  charges  more  for  his  work, 


128  UNWISE  LAWS. 

because  the  tariff  obliges  him  to  pay  more  for  his  picks  and 
shovels  to  dig  the  ground  and  more  for  his  carts  and  mules  to 
haul  it  away,  and  more  for  labor,  for  his  laborers,  owing  to 
the  tariff,  must  pay  more  for  all  they  consume,  and  conse- 
quently must  have  higher  wages.  Next  the  bricklayer  comes 
and  he  must  have  more  for  his  bricks  and  his  cement, 
and  more  for  his  tools  and  labor.  The  carpenter  must  have 
more,  for  the  tariff  compels  him  to  pay  more  for  his  lumber,  his 
glass,  and  his  nails,  and  his  tools  and  labor  likewise  cost  more. 
The  plumber  now  has  to  be  considered  and  no  wonder  he  is  an 
object  of  popular  dread  and  popular  ridicule,  for  the  tariff 
riddles  him  from  top  to  toe.  His  gas-pipe  and  his  lead  pipe 
cost  him  45  per  cent,  duty,  and  his  soil-pipe  55  per  cent.  ; 
his  zinc  and  his  copper  for  his  sinks  and  bath-tubs  cost  him 
45  per  cent,  duty,  and  his  spelter  to  put  his  work  together 
costs  him  the  same,  and  his  marble  for  his  wash-basins  costs 
him  about  50  per  cent.  However  much  we  may  dread  the 
plumber,  we  ought  not  to  abuse  his  prices,  for  the  protec- 
tionists are  mainly  responsible  for  his  heavy  bills.  His  righteous 
soul  is  satisfied  with  a  profit  of  100  per  cent.,  and  although 
the  protectionist  actually  adds  only  50  per  cent,  to  every 
dollar  of  the  plumber's  bill,  he  is  in  reality  responsible  for  one 
dollar  out  of  every  three,  for  the  plumber  cannot  exist  without 
his  100  per  cent,  profit,  and  100  on  50  cents  makes  a  dol- 
lar. For  the  extra  costs  of  the  painter  and  the  other  me- 
chanics, any  one  can  make  the  calculation  for  himself,  so  we 
will  drop  them.  The  final  outcome  is,  every  house  costs  its 
owner  more  on  account  of  the  tariff,  and  not  only  every  house, 
but  every  single  thing  in  the  land  costs  more  from  the  same 
cause. 

Here  then  is  a  greater  cause  than  either  of  the  two  preceding 
why  we  cannot  export  manufactures,  because  the  tariff  makes 
every  thing  cost  too  much. 

Moreover,  the  tariff  having  caused  manufacturing  power  to 
increase   to  double  the  requirements  of   the  country,  a  vast 


UNWISE  LAWS.  129 

amount  of  capital  has  been  totally  sunk  and  lost.  Now  manu- 
factures must  bear  this  loss,  and  this  loss  must  be  added  to  the 
cost  of  goods  ;  and  here  again  we  have  another  cause  why  the 
markets  of  the  world  are  closed  to  us — our  goods  cost  too 
much.  We  will  not  weary  the  reader  with  other  causes,  for 
surely  we  have  given  enough  reasons  why  we  are  shut  out  of 
foreign  markets,  and  all  of  them  spring  from  the  same  root — 
so-called  protection. 

Another  pregnant  reason  why  we  are  excluded  from  the  foreign 
markets  is  not  on  account  of  high  cost  of  goods  merely,  but 
because  the  tariff,  by  affording  the  large  margin  of  profit  it 
does,  has  turned  the  attention  of  manufacturers  almost  ex- 
clusively towards  the  home  market,  because  the  profits  to  be 
gained  in  the  home  market  have  been  so  great,  and  they  have 
neglected  to  study  the  foreign  markets  not  only  as  regards 
quality  and  style  of  goods,  but  also,  which  is  an  exceedingly 
important  matter,  as  regards  the  manner  of  packing  and  putting 
up  the  goods.  The  old  maxim,  that  there  is  no  disputing  about 
tastes,  holds  good  respecting  foreign  tastes.  However  superior 
our  tastes  may  be,  both  regarding  quality  and  style  of  goods, 
and  as  regards  packing,  when  judged  by  an  unprejudiced  indi- 
vidual, yet  if  it  does  not  please  the  taste  of  the  people  who  we 
wish  to  buy  our  goods,  they  will  not  touch  them.  For  example, 
the  people  of  Mexico  and  of  our  other  tropical  countries  near 
us,  prefer  their  prints,  not  only  of  gaudy  patterns,  but  also  of 
a  particular  pattern  of  gaudiness,  and  when  we  like  them 
twenty-seven  inches  in  width  they  prefer  them  thirty  or  thirty- 
six  inches  in  width.  The  beauty  of  our  prints  may  be  much 
superior  to  theirs  in  an  artistic  point  of  view,  and  our  width 
may  cut  to  more  advantage  than  their  width,  but  these  facts 
will  not  impress  them  ;  they  have  become  accustomed  to  their 
styles,  and  they  will  not  have  ours  even  as  a  gift.  The  Brazil 
market  formerly,  and  we  presume  does  at  present,  required  a 
coarse  brown  cotton  of  a  particular  style  and  put  up  in  a  par- 
ticular way  and  of  a  particular  length,  and  it  was  as  vain  to 


130  UNWISE   LAWS. 

offer  them  the  brown  cottons  we  are  accustomed  to  as  it  is  to  offer 
a  dog  hay  to  eat.  We  are  accustomed  to  pack  our  dry  goods  in 
cases,  or  in  bales  of  large  size,  and  without  any  interior  protection 
such  as  waterproof  paper  or  cloth  to  preserve  the  goods  from 
dampness.  Our  way  of  packing  may  be  the  best,  but  to  offer 
cases  to  Mexicans  and  South  Americans,  who  have  in  great 
measure  to  transport  their  merchandise  on  pack  mules,  and 
therefore  need  the  goods  to  be  put  up  in  bales  of  special  size  and 
weight,  to  enable  the  goods  to  be  transported,  would  be  as  vain 
as  to  throw  down  a  lion's  ration  to  a  horse  or  an  elephant. 
The  tastes  of  the  foreigners,  especially  of  our  tropical  neighbors, 
have  to  be  suited  to  an  exact  nicety,  or  all  the  goods  we 
send  them  will  be  a  dead  loss  to  us.  And  their  tastes  in  other 
things  besides  dry  goods  have  to  be  closely  consulted,  or  we 
cannot  gain  an  entrance  into  their  markets,  we  cannot  obtain 
an  outlet  for  a  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  our  goods.  These 
people  are  strictly  the  children  of  habit  and  custom,  and  the 
phrase,  ^^  es  costtimbre,''  or  "  no  cs  costumbre  " — that  is  to  say,  it 
is  the  custom,  or  it  is  not  the  custom — takes  the  place  of  reason 
and  argument  both.  As  said  previously,  our  protective  tariff, 
by  the  large  profits  it  for  a  time  assured,  fixed  the  attention 
of  the  manufacturer  solely  upon  the  home  market,  and  while  we 
were  altogether  ignoring  the  wants  and  the  tastes  of  the  foreign 
customer,  the  English  and  the  German  and  the  French  were 
sedulously  cultivating  them.  The  result  is  that  they  have  the 
markets  and  we  are  shut  out. 

Now  what  is  the  combined  effect  of  the  too  high  prices 
caused  by  our  protective  policy  and  of  our  total  neglect  of  the 
tastes  of  the  foreign  markets  ?  The  effect  is  as  we  said  :  we 
have  no  standing  except  for  agricultural  products,  (in  which  we 
include  provisions  and  petroleum,)  in  foreign  markets  at  all,  so 
that  when  we  have  a  surplus  of  goods  at  home  we  cannot  re- 
lieve our  markets  by  sending  them  abroad.  It  might  even  be 
good  policy  to  relieve  the  home  market  by  selling  the  surplus 
at  a  considerable  loss  ;  but  it  cannot  be  done  at  a  total  loss, 


UNWISE  LAWS.  131 

for,  being  entirely  unsuited  to  the  foreign  market,  the  foreigner 
won't  have  them  as  a  gift.  So  here  is  the  situation  in  a  nut- 
shell. We  have  surrounded  ourselves  with  a  hiaih  wall  in  order 
to  shut  foreigners  out,  but  while  this  wall  shuts  the  foreigners 
out  it  shuts  ourselves  in.  And  within  this  high  Avail  we  have 
fostered  manufactures  so  unduly  that  we  have  a  manufacturing 
power  largely  in  excess  of  our  wants.  And  this  manufacturing 
power,  finding  the  home  market  almost  exclusively  in  its  power 
and  therefore  a  profitable  field  for  cultivation,  sets  vigorously 
to  work,  and  pours  manufactured  goods  upon  the  market  day 
and  night  for  several  years.  In  the  course  of  time  the  market 
necessarily  becomes  glutted  with  goods,  and  having  shut  our- 
selves out  of  foreign  markets  we  can  gain  no  relief  from  the 
burden.  We  bear  the  burden  for  a  time,  struggle  against  the 
impending  catastrophe  for  a  little  longer,  and  the  crisis  finally 
overwhelms  us  and  we  find  ourselves  prostrated  in  bankruptcy. 

In  our  short-sighted  selfishness  we  have  sought  to  possess 
the  world,  and  we  find  we  do  not  even  possess  our  own  land  in 
peace.  To  use  a  homely  illustration,  we  have  attempted  to 
kick  our  bed-fellow  out  of  the  bed,  and  in  our  effort  to  do  so 
we  find  ourselves  flat  on  the  floor. 

The  only  permanent  relief  for  our  alternately  excited,  glut- 
ted, and  prostrated  markets,  is  to  turn  our  backs  upon  protec- 
tion, which  is  the  parent  of  all  our  industrial  vicissitudes,  and 
to  plant  ourselves  firmly  upon  the  foundation  of  equality  of 
taxation  and  equality  of  burden  and  of  privilege,  which  is  the 
parent  of  steadiness  and  stability,  the  essential  qualities  of 
the  welfare  of  the  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  world 
in  which  we  live. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

DIVISION    OF    LABOR. 

This  is  an  old  theme,  the  benefits  of  which,  when  applied  to 
the  ordinary  manipulations  of  manufactures,  are  denied  by  no 


132  UNWISE  LAWS. 

one.  Years  ago  the  writer  recalls  the  fact  that  on  every  plan- 
tation in  Virginia  there  were  women  to  spin  the  cotton  and  the 
wool,  and  other  women  to  weave  it  into  cloth.  There  was  a 
blacksmith  to  shoe  the  horses,  etc.,  a  wheelwright  to  make  and 
mend  the  wagons  and  carts,  a  shoemaker  to  make  and  cobble 
shoes,  a  carpenter  to  build  the  barns  and  cabins — all  in  addi- 
tion to  the  force  making  grain  and  tobacco.  In  those  days 
every  neighborhood  did  its  own  manufacturing,  consequently 
there  was  little  or  no  division  of  labor,  and  every  thing  made  was 
of  a  coarse  but  substantial  character.  Since  those  days,  not  fifty 
years  ago,  division  of  labor  has  been  completely  introduced 
into  other  sections  of  the  country,  and  all  these  various  do- 
mestic manufactures  have  as  completely  disappeared  as  have 
the  knights-errant  of  the  feudal  times.  And  why  have  they  dis- 
appeared ?  Simply  because  division  of  labor  has  so  improved  and 
cheapened  manufactures  it  costs  scarcely  more  money  to  buy 
a  new  pair  of  shoes  than  to  have  an  old  pair  mended  ;  a  whole 
suit  of  store-clothes  cost  less  than  would  the  necessary  quan- 
tity of  plain  homespun,  and  new  hoes,  axes,  and  other  imple- 
ments can  be  obtained  cheaper  than  the  cost  of  repairing  them 
when  old,  even  though  the  workmen  could  be  found  to  do  the 
work,  for  the  old  ones  have  died  out  and  younger  ones  have 
not  found  it  profitable  to  take  their  places. 

Nobody,  then,  has  any  thing  to  say  against  division  of  labor 
when  confined  to  domestic  manufactures,  nor  to  the  greater 
divisions  of  labor,  meaning  thereby  that  some  sections  should 
cultivate  tobacco,  some  wheat,  some  cotton,  some  sugar,  be- 
cause those  sections  are  best  adapted  to  these  products,  but 
when  division  of  labor  as  regards  nations  is  spoken  of  there 
are  then  thousands  who  are  blind  as  bats  and  deaf  as  adders. 
Ask  them  if  it  is  not  better  to  raise  cotton  in  the  Southern 
States  rather  than  force  it  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  ;  or  if  it  is  not 
better  to  let  the  West,  where  grass  and  corn  grow  exuberantly, 
raise  meat  than  to  force  it  in  the  South  where  neither  corn  nor 
grass  flourish  ;   or  if  it  is  not  better  to  get  copper  from  the 


UNWISE  LAWS.  133 

Lake  Superior  region,  where  it  is  found  in  almost  a  virgin  state, 
rather  than  force  it  to  be  made  from  the  low-grade  ores  of  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina  ;  or  whether  it  is  not  better  to  procure 
our  cotton  and  woollen  cloths  and  other  manufactures  in  which 
she  excels,  from  Massachusetts,  rather  than  to  force  them  in  a 
strictly  agricultural  state  ; — ask  them  these  or  thousands  of  other 
similar  questions,  and  they  will  reply  at  once  :  Yes,  each  sec- 
tion of  the  country  is  particularly  fitted  for  some  one  or  more 
things,  and  it  is  better  for  the  South  to  devote  itself  to  cotton, 
the  West  to  meat  and  grain,  and  the  East  to  manufactures, 
and  to  buy  from  other  sections  those  things  they  can  produce 
to  most  advantage. 

We  go  outside  of  our  boundaries  and  ask  the  same  questions, 
inquiring  whether  Great  Britain  is  not  in  the  best  position 
to  produce  some  things,  or  France  some  other  things,  or 
Germany  some  other  things,  or  South  America  some  other 
things,  or  India  some  other  things,  or  China  some  other  things, 
or  the  United  States  some  other  things  ;  and  whether  therefore 
would  it  not  be  best  for  us  and  for  all  other  countries  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantages  of  each  for  the  supply  of  what 
each  can  produce  cheapest  or  with  least  labor,  rather  than  to 
force  the  production  at  home  of  what  foreigners  can  produce 
cheaper,— ^then  the  question  of  the  advantage  of  division  of 
labor  assumes  a  different  aspect  altogether,  and  what  before 
was  a  benefit  now  becomes  a  disadvantage.  We  are  asked  to 
believe  that  some  of  the  States  possess  a  climate  similar  to 
China  ;  why  not  therefore,  _/6';r^  the  production  of  tea  in  them 
rather  than  be  dependent  upon  the  contemptible  celestials 
for  the  delightful  beverage  ?  Simply  because  it  is  cheaper 
to  employ  our  labor  in  making  cotton  and  cheaper  to  let  the 
Chinese  make  tea. 

Indigo  grows  wild  in  the  Southern  States,  and  it  was  pro- 
duced by  them  when  colonies  as  an  article  of  commerce. 
Why  not  now  force  the  production  of  indigo  there  rather  than 
to  buy  it  of  the  naked  Bengalese  ?    For  the  same  reason  that  we 


134  UNWISE  LAWS. 

can  do  better  with  our  labor  in  making  something  else  in  the 
place  of  indigo. 

We  have  a  climate  suitable  to  the  growth  of  mulberry  trees 
and  for  the  rearing  of  silk-worms,  then  why  not  fo7-ce  the  pro- 
duction of  raw  silk  at  home  ?  for  the  same  simple  reason  that 
it  is  cheaper  to  apply  the  labor  necessary  for  the  production  of 
raw  silk  to  the  making  of  something  in  which  we  excel.  By 
expensive  artificial  means  we  might  raise  coffee  in  some  parts 
of  Florida  and  Texas,  just  as  we  induce  the  manufacture  of  plate 
glass  of  24  x  60  inches  and  above  by  a  duty  of  124  per  cent.,  or 
as  we  encourage  the  production  of  silk  goods  by  admitting  raw 
silk  free  and  charging  the  manufactured  goods  50  per  cent., 
and  why  do  we  not  do  it  ?  Simply  because  there  would  be  a 
great  waste  of  labor  and  capital,  as  there  is  in  the  case  of  plate 
glass  and  silk  goods,  in  the  effort  to  grow  coffee  in  these  States. 
And  all  these  articles  we  admit  free  of  duty.  It  is  cheaper  to 
buy  them  than  to  raise  them. 

Now  are  these  the  only  products  other  parts  of  the  world 
produce  cheaper  than  we  do  ?  If  they  are,  then  we  do  well  to 
stop  at  them  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  produce  all  other 
things  as  cheap  or  cheaper  than  other  countries,  we  will  never  be 
in  danger  of  having  them  interfere  with  our  manufacturers,  for 
we  may  be  sure  they  will  not  send  us  their  goods,  pay  transpor- 
tation on  them,  and  then  find  out  they  could  get  no  more  for 
them  than  at  home.  The  very  fact  of  there  being  protective 
duties  is  an  evidence  that  other  nations  have  advantages  over 
us  in  some  things,  and  the  protective  duties  are  the  effort  on 
our  part  to  prevent  ourselves  from  availing  ourselves  of  those 
advantages.  Owing  to  her  favorable  climate  and  the  skill  and 
taste  of  her  people,  acquired  by  the  experience  of  more  than 
a  century,  France  is  able  to  supply  us  with  silks  much  cheaper 
than  we  can  make  them.  Yet  we  attempt  to  drive  them  off  by 
a  duty  of  50  per  cent.,  lately  reduced  with  great  difficulty  from 
60  per  cent.,  but  the  advantages  of  France  and  her  neighbors  in 
the  production  of  silks  are  still  so  great  that  we  imported  $38,- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  135 

000,000  of  silk  goods  in  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  '84.  Eng- 
land has  coal  and  iron  iia  close  proximity.  She  has  capital  in  great 
profusion,  low  rate  of  interest,  and  the  experience  and  the  result- 
ing skill  of  many  years  in  successful  competition  with  the  whole 
world,  and  for  these  many  reasons  is  able  to  supply  us  with.? 
pig-iron,  steel,  rails,  machinery,  etc.,  cheaper  than  we  can  make 
them,  but  we  repel  her  with  onerous  duties  on  all  these  things. 
And  the  same  facts  apply  to  woollen  goods  and  many  other 
kinds  of  manufactures.  No  !  we  will  make  use  of  none  of 
England's  advantages  ;  we  had  rather  employ  the  labor  of  one 
hundred  men  in  making  what  she  would  send  us  in  exchange 
for  the  labor  of  sixty  or  seventy  men,  and  have  the  other  thirty 
or  forty  men  to  do  something  else.  We  had  rather  employ  a 
hundred  men  to  do  a  thing  than  to  do  the  same  thing  with 
seventy  men  and  one  machine,  and  have  the  other  thirty  men 
free  to  engage  in  other  occupations.  Other  nations  likewise 
have  more  or  less  peculiar  advantages,  but  wherever  we  find 
this  to  be  the  case,  we  immediately  shut  our  eyes,  grind  our 
teeth,  and  rush  to  place  every  impediment  possible  in  the  way 
of  our  sharing  in  any  of  these  advantages. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  we  are  an  immense  country  and  a  great 
people.  Take  us  and  our  advantages  together  and  we  cannot  be 
approached  by  any  people  on  this  round  globe,  but  for  all  that 
we  do  not  possess  all  iho.  advantages  and  all  the  smartness  in  the 
world.  The  Creator  has  showered  on  us  innumerable  advan- 
tages, but  he  has  not  forgotten  other  portions  of  the  earth, 
and  while  he  has  granted  us  most  he  has  not  bestowed  upon 
us  all  of  his  blessings.  Then  why  should  we  shut  our  eyes  to 
this  fact  and  obstinately  and  childishly  refuse  to  avail  ourselves 
of  the  natural  and  acquired  advantages  of  other  peoples. 
Division  of  labor  as  regards  nations  is  as  beneficent  as  it  is 
regarding  individuals.  By  each  nation  devoting  itself  to  what 
it  excels  in,  it  can  produce  the  greatest  quantity  of  its  peculiar 
product  and  at  the  lowest  price.  When  each  nation  docs  this 
there  will  be  a  great  deal  more  to  be  divided,  and  everybody 


136  UNWISE  LAWS. 

will  have  more  than  under  the  present  system,  where  all  are 
endeavoring  to  see  how  much  they  can  do  to  prevent  each 
from  exchanging  with  the  other. 

Many  will  say  if  we  do  not  keep  out  foreign  goods  our  man- 
ufacturers will  be  ruined.  This  is  a  most  senseless  cry,  and  is 
gotten  up  by  the  manufacturers  on  the  same  principle  of  the 
thief  crying  out  as  loudly  as  the  most  honest  man  in  the 
throng,  Stop  thief  !  By  the  high  protective  duties  they  have 
imposed  upon  the  country,  they  have  done  the  people  a  great 
wrong,  and  they  want  to  perpetuate  the  wrong  by  making 
direful  predictions  of  what  will  happen  when  the  wrong  shall 
be  righted,  and  thousands  of  well-meaning  people  are  thor- 
oughly alarmed  by  their  vaticinations.  The  change  from 
wrong  to  right  would  certainly  injure  some  exotic  manufac- 
turers, and  perhaps  destroy  them,  and  would  perhaps  ruin  many 
manufacturers  who  do  not  understand  or  who  do  not  attend 
to  their  business,  but  who  have  hitherto  been  kept  afloat  by 
the  life-preservers  of  an  exorbitant  tariff.  In  other  words,  it 
will  injure  and  perhaps  destroy  some  industries  that  should 
never  have  been  galvanized  into  life,  and  will  root  out  waste, 
negligence,  and  ignorance  ;  but  this  will  be  a  good  thing. 
When  the  sickly  and  diseased  branches  are  cut  out  the  healthy 
ones  will  have  a  better  chance  to  thrive.  It  will  be  like  clear- 
ing concerns  which  are  insolvent,  though  still  afloat,  which  injure 
the  business  of  their  community  by  borrowing  all  the  money  they 
can  get,  and  thus  not  only  put  up  the  rate  of  interest  to  solvent 
firms,  but  also  prevent  others  from  borrowing  at  all,  and  which 
also  destroy  profits  by  the  necessity  they  are  under  to  sell 
goods,  at  no  profit  to  themselves,  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
money  to  meet  maturing  obligations.  Every  one  of  much 
experience  in  business  knows  the  relief  it  is  when  such  con- 
cerns can  borrow  no  longer,  and  break.  But  what  sound,  well- 
managed  business  firms  would  suffer  materially  by  the  change  ? 
They  would  not  only  not  suffer,  but  they  would  be  benefited 
by  the  change,  for  then  they  would  have  active  competition, 


UNWISE  LAWS.  137 

and  competition  never  yet  injured  a  live  intelligent  concern. 
Then  all  would  be  placed  on  their  best  behavior,  and  knowing 
that  they  must  now  trust  to  themselves  alone  and  not  to  a  pro- 
tective tariff,  they  would  make  such  improvements,  institute 
economies,  and  invent  new  processes  and  improvements,  and 
the  country  would  start  forward  with  a  bound  unheard  of 
even  in  our  unparalleled  industrial  march. 

But  why  should  we  fear  competition  with  all  the  world, 
except  when  we  attempt  to  do  things  which  are  clearly  better 
suited  to  other  countries  ? 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  the  natural  protection  that 
there  is  of  a  wide  ocean  to  be  crossed,  and  in  addition,  when 
the  consumers  reside  at  any  distance  from  the  coast,  the  further 
obstacle  of  land  transportation.  And  transportation  is  uni- 
versally regarded  as  a  considerable  item  of  cost. 

Secondly,  we  have  cheap  food,  at  least  as  much  cheaper  as 
the  cost  of  carrying  it  across  the  ocean,  and  then  inland  trans- 
portation both  here  and  abroad  ;  which  is  another  considerable 
point  in  our  favor. 

Thirdly,  we  have  cheaper  rents  and  lower  taxes. 

Fourthly,  we  have,  as  a  rule,  more  intelligent  and  more  self- 
respecting  workmen,  qualities  in  great  measure  arising  from 
the  active  part  they  are  enabled  to  take  and  the  influence  they 
can  exert  in  local  and  national  affairs,  and  the  opportunity 
they  have  of  rising  from  obscurity  into  positions  of  the  highest 
prominence.  For  these  reasons  our  workmen  are  generally 
regarded  as  the  most  efficient  in  the  world,  and  while  they  do 
not  get  "  pauper  "  wages  they  are  cheaper  than  pauper  laborers, 
because  the  percentage  of  labor  in  what  they  produce  is  less 
than  in  those  things  produced  by  paupers.  Why  should  not  a 
workman  who  knows  he  will  advance  in  proportion  to  his  skill 
and  industry  exert  himself  to  a  greater  degree  and  turn  out 
much  more  product  than  another  workman  who  is  surrounded 
by  so  many  obstacles  to  progress,  as  is  the  case  generally  in 
old   countries,  as   to   be   discouraged  from  even  making  the 


138  UNWISE  LAWS. 

effort  to  improve  his  condition.  He  certainly  will  be  a  more 
efficient  workman  and  he  certainly  is  a  more  efficient  one. 
For  this  reason  our  labor,  while  it  nominally  costs  more  than 
foreign  labor,  is  in  reality  cheaper  than  foreign  labor,  for  it 
produces  more  than  foreign  labor.  So  then  we  may  truly  say 
we  have  all  the  advantages  for  free  competition  in  all  kinds  of 
business  suitable  to  our  climate,  and  our  natural  productions, 
to  wit,  advantage  of  transportation,  of  cheap  food,  of  cheap 
rents,  of  low  taxes,  and  of  low  wages  ;  and  to  proclaim  that  in 
the  face  of  all  these  advantages  we  cannot  compete  with  any 
or  all  nations  is  either  because  of  cowardice,  hypocrisy,  or 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  those  who  offer  the  humiliating 
complaint. 

As  before  said,  a  return  to  a  sound  system  will  necessi- 
tate a  considerable  transposition  of  labor  and  of  capital,  but 
of  no  loss  of  labor  though  necessarily  a  considerable  loss  of 
capital,  for  there  is  much  capital  put  in  things  that  never  ought 
to  have  been  started.  But  what  of  that  ?  Has  any  important 
improvement  or  invention  ever  been  introduced  that  did  not 
involve  a  transposition  of  labor  and  a  loss  of  considerable 
capital.  The  invention  of  railroads  took  place,  and  how  do 
railroads  affect  other  interests  ?  They  throw  out  of  employ- 
ment all  the  men  who  drove  the  stages,  all  the  stable  men  and 
all  the  employes  of  the  inns  along  the  stage  routes  ;  all  the 
men  who  were  engaged  in  raising  the  horses  and  the  food 
required  for  them  ;  all  the  men  engaged  in  making  the  stages 
and  the  harness  ;  and  all  the  men  engaged  in  the  selling  of 
the  horses  and  feed,  of  the  stages  and  harness  ;  and  they 
destroyed  or  nearly  destroyed  the  large  capital  engaged  in 
producing  the  stages  and  equipments,  as  well  as  all  the  taverns 
along  the  stage  routes  ;  and  all  these  varied  interests  no  doubt 
made  a  loud  outcry  against  railroads,  and  because  railroads 
ruined  them  they  predicted  that  railroads  would  ruin  the 
country  also. 

And  how  about  steamships  ?    One  steamship  does  the  work 


UNWISE  LAWS.  139 

of  perhaps  twenty  sail  vessels,  and  consequently  steamships  for 
the  time  threw  out  of  employment  thousands  of  seamen  and 
destroyed  or  impaired  the  value  of  thousands  of  sailing  vessels. 
And  every  improvement  or  invention  produces  the  same  effect, 
some  more  and  some  less,  but  all  cause  labor  to  accommodate 
itself  to  the  new  conditions,  and  destroy  capital  invested  in 
things  that  the  improvement  or  the  invention  has  superseded. 
But  while  these  are  their  first  effects  the  final  effects  cause  such 
a  multiplication  of  exchanges  and  interchanges  that  they  very 
soon  repair  all  the  injuries  they  had  caused,  and  convert  what 
before  was  a  waste  or  a  barren  into  a  fruitful  field. 

And  so  will  it  be  when  we  consent  to  avail  ourselves  of  the 
advantages  of  a  division  of  labor  as  regards  nations.  As  the 
hymn  says.  The  bud  may  have  a  bitter  taste,  but  sweet  will 
be  the  flower. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

DO    MANUFACTURERS    DESIRE    HIGH    WAGES  ? 

Manufacturers  in  this  country,  and  in  all  similar  countries 
where  the  principle  of  protection  prevails,  are,  notwithstanding 
the  immense  diversity  of  the  wares  they  produce,  readily  divis- 
ible into  two  grand  classes.  They  illustrate  the  wager  of  the 
small  boy  who  bet  that  he  could  go  into  the  woods  and  select 
two  sticks,  and  that  they  would  resemble  any  other  sticks  that 
anybody  or  everybody  might  select  out  of  the  same  or  other 
woods.  And  he  always  won  his  bet,  too,  for  however  dif- 
ferent the  various  selections  might  be  his  sticks  always  filled  the 
wager,  for  one  stick  was  straight  and  the  other  crooked.  So  it 
is  with  manufacturers — they  may  make  an  insignificant  pin  or 
a  splendid  engine,  or  they  may  make  a  tub  or  an  organ,  but 
they  may  still  be  classed  under  two  heads,  to  wit  :  protected  or 
unprotected.  They  are  like  two  armies,  the  one  fighting  be- 
hind entrenchments,  the  other  fighting  in  the  open. 

In  other  parts  of  this  book,  when  speaking  of  manufacturers 


140  UNWISE  LAWS. 

we  always  mean  protected  manufacturers,  but  in  this  chapter 
we  shall  speak  of  manufacturers  generally,  for  it  is  only  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  same  principle  of  self-interest  affects 
them  all  equally.  But  this  may  be  a  violent  assumption,  be- 
cause we  never  hear  the  unprotected  manufacturer  claim  that 
he  desires  high  wages,  but  it  is  a  general  claim  of  the  protected 
manufacturers  that  they  advocate  protection  because  protection 
enables  the  workman  to  obtain  higher  wages  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
they  favor  protection  because  protection  compels  them  to  pay 
the  workman  higher  wages.  Although  this  claim,  in  which 
they  boast,  looks  unreasonable,  we  will  let  it  pass  for  the  pres- 
ent, because,  feeding  as  they  do  on  the  special  food  of  govern- 
mental favoritism,  these  modern  Caesars  have  not  only  grown 
great,  but  they  may  also  have  grown  benevolent,  and  therefore 
more  solicitous  that  their  workmen  may  get  high  wages  than 
that  they  themselves  may  get  rich.  We  are  inclined  to  believe, 
however,  that  special  food  may  change  one's  nature,  for 
apiarians  tell  us  that  at  first  there  is  no  difference  between  the 
queen  bee  and  the  ordinary  working  bee.  They  tell  us  that 
although  the  queen  bee,  without  whom  the  hive  speedily  goes 
to  destruction,  and  which  lays  tens  of  thousands  of  eggs  in  the 
space  of  a  few  hours,  is,  up  to  a  certain  point,  in  no  respect 
different  from  the  ordinary  bee,  which  is  incapable  of  laying  a 
single  egg,  but  that  the  difference  between  the  two  arises  solely 
from  a  difference  of  household  accommodation  and  a  difference 
of  food,  for  the  queen  is  given  a  much-enlarged  cell  and  fed  on 
the  choicest  food  and  in  the  most  abundant  quantity,  and  she 
thus  becomes  the  sovereign  of  the  hive  or  of  future  hives  that  are 
to  spring  from  her  loins.  With  this  example  of  nature  before  our 
eyes,  in  which  we  see  a  difference  of  treatment  resulting  in  an 
enormous  difference  of  results,  we  may  hardly  be  justified  in 
disregarding  the  claim  of  the  protected  manufacturer,  that  he 
in  reality  does  business  for  the  benefit  of  those  he  employs,  but 
as  there  may  be  some  sceptics  among  our  readers,  we  will 
examine   the    question    whether    manufacturers    desire    their 


UNWISE  LAWS.  141 

■R'orkmen  to  obtain  higher  wages  on  the  great  principle  of 
human  nature,  which  is  that  every  man  loves  himself  more 
than  he  does  his  neighbor,  and  we  will  therefore  consider  the 
protected  manufacturer,  though  fed  like  the  queen  bee,  as  also 
subject  to  this  great  law. 

The  merchant  does  business  on  the  simple  principle  of 
asking  ten,  fifteen,  twenty-five,  or  fifty  per  cent,  advance 
on  the  cost  of  his  goods,  according  to  the  nature  of  his  busi- 
ness, and  this  percentage  is  intended  to  cover  all  the  cost 
of  doing  business  and  of  bad  debts  likewise.  But  the  manu- 
facturer has  a  much  more  difficult  part  to  act.  He  must  not 
only  count  wear  and  tear  of  his  plant  and  interest,  but  he 
has  to  take  into  calculation  so  much  material  of  one  or  more 
kinds  according  as  his  occupation  is  simple,  like  smelting 
ores,  or  complicated  as  in  the  making  of  cloth,  and  so  much 
labor,  and  after  his  product  is  completed  he  adds  so  much  for 
his  profit,  which  varies  from  a  small  percentage  where  the 
manufacture  is  simple  and  the  demand  large,  to  a  large  per- 
centage where  the  manufacture  is  difficult  and  the  demand 
small.  The  cost  of  goods  is  therefore  made  up  of  wear  and 
tear,  interest  on  capital,  cost  of  materials,  cost  of  labor,  and 
the  manufacturer's  profit.  If  manufacturers  had  the  control  of 
a  market  it  would  matter  little  to  them  what  they  paid  for  any 
item  or  for  all  items  of  cost,  for  they  would  at  once  reimburse 
themselves  out  of  the  consumer  for  whatever  advance  they 
paid.  But,  except  in  rare  instances,  manufacturers  do  not 
control  the  market,  and  they  are  subject  to  more  or  less  com- 
petition. We  will  cite  an  instance  in  our  own  knowledge.  A 
manufacturer  in  the  city  of  the  writer  had  the  monopoly  of  a 
certain  article  in  the  Australian  market.  Of  course,  while  this 
monopoly  lasted  it  made  little  difference  to  him  whether  he 
paid  ten  or  twenty  per  cent,  more  for  his  labor  and  material, 
(though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  obtained  both  at  the  lowest 
rates,  so  that  he  might  thereby  add  to  his  profits),  for  he  could 
throw  the  advance  on  the  customer  in  the  antipodes.     But 


142  UNWISE  LAWS. 

after  a  time  competitors  enter  his  territory  and  divide  the 
market  with  him.  Does  he  still  remain  indifferent  to  what  he 
pays  for  material  and  labor  ?  Oh  no,  for  in  order  even  to 
maintain  his  footing  in  this  market  he  must  not  only  see 
that  his  machinery  is  in  the  most  efficient  condition,  and  that 
the  processes  of  manufacture  are  conducted  in  the  most  eco- 
nomical manner,  but  he  must  make  his  purchases  at  the  lowest 
price  and  obtain  his  labor  also  at  the  lowest  rates.  He  will  be 
sure  to  cut  these  items  down  before  he  will  allow  his  profits  to 
be  curtailed. 

And  so  it  is  all  through  all  branches  of  manufactures. 
Manufacturers  are  constantly  cutting  each  other  out  of 
markets,  and  therefore  manufacturers  are  ever  on  the  the  alert 
to  cheapen  the  cost  of  stock  and  of  labor  too.  And  they  will  al- 
ways cut  on  these  two  items  before  they  will  allow  their  profits 
to  be  affected,  and  they  will  submit  to  a  lessening  of  profit 
only  after  they  are  unable  to  cheapen  further  both  labor  and 
material.  This  is  plain  as  A  B  C  to  the  meanest  understanding. 
The  manufacturer  loves  himself  and  family  more  than  he  does 
the  merchant  he  buys  his  stock  from  and  the  workman  who  is 
engaged  in  his  service,  and  he  will  certainly  squeeze  them  be- 
fore he  will  squeeze  himself  and  his  family.  And  even  though 
his  profits  will  permit  of  shrinking,  he  will  not  willingly  allow 
it,  for  we  all  know  how  painful  it  is  when  we  find  our  income 
for  the  year  is  smaller  than  it  was  the  year  before.  And  if  the 
manufacturer  will  squeeze  the  merchant  who  furnishes  him 
with  the  smaller,  he  will  be  all  the  more  sure  to  squeeze  the 
workman  who  furnishes  him  with  the  larger  part  of  his  finished 
product.  The  manufacturer  of  the  present  day,  who  must  em- 
ploy his  workmen  in  large  numbers  and  most  of  whom  he  does 
not  know  by  sight,  and  whom  he  cannot  know  not  only  be- 
cause the  numbers  are  great  but  because  they  are  constantly 
changing,  cares  no  more  for  his  workmen,  except  as  instru- 
ments for  making  money  for  him,  than  he  does  for  his 
machinery  or  his  horses  and  mules.     He  keeps  the  machinery 


UNWISE  LAWS.  143 

and  animals  in  efficient  order  at  the  least  possible  expense,  and 
he  pays  his  workmen  the  lowest  wages  the  market  will  permit. 
And  he  does  this  not  because  he  is  worse  than  his  fellow-men, 
but  from  absolute  necessity.  Let  us  suppose  a  benevolent 
manufacturer  who,  though  he  believes  in  squeezing  the  mer- 
chant, believes  that  he  should  pay  his  workmen  what  he  con- 
considers  a  fair  price,  and,  being  benevolent,  he  thinks  his 
workmen  should  live  in  a  cottage  and  not  in  a  tenement  house  ; 
that  his  wife  should  employ  at  least  one  servant,  that  his  whole 
family  should  have  meat  three  times  a  day  and  on  Sunday  a 
turkey  and  cranberry  sauce.  Now  this  is  nothing  extravagant 
nor  extreme,  but  only  living  in  very  modest  comfort,  and  gout 
would  never  result  from  it.  Suppose  further  that  this  benevo- 
lent manufacturer  should  say  that  workmen  ought  to  have  time 
for  intellectual  improvement,  and  for  that  reason  eight  hours  a 
day  was  enough  to  work  ;  and  he  therefore  paid  his  workmen  a 
day's  wages  for  eight  hours'  labor.  Now  all  this  would  be  very 
worthy  of  commendation  on  the  part  of  the  manufacturer,  and 
when  he  counted  over  his  gains  at  the  end  of  the  year  he  might 
proudly  say  :  I  have  shared  my  prosperity  with  my  workmen, 
even  with  the  humblest.  But,  sad  to  say,  there  is  a  "but"  to 
this  agreeable  picture,  and  a  fatal  one  it  is.  And  that  "  but  " 
is  competition,  for  a  competitor,  perhaps  one  of  his  very  work- 
men, who  had  saved  money  out  of  the  benevolence  of  the 
manufacturer,  springs  up  who  knows  not  Joseph.  This  com- 
petitor cares  not  whether  his  workmen  live  in  a  neat  cottage 
or  a  filthy  garret,  whether  their  wives  are  worn  out  by  home 
drudgeries  or  not,  whether  their  children  see  meat  once  a  week, 
except  it  be  hanging  in  a  shop  beyond  their  reach,  and  all  the 
intellectual  improvement  he  cares  about  is  that  his  workman, 
has  sense  enough  to  do  well  and  quickly  what  he  is  told,  and 
he  pays  wages  in  proportion  to  this  lowest  scale  of  living. 
Now,  in  the  competition  between  these  two  manufacturers, 
what  is  the  inevitable  result  ?  In  a  sliort  time  the  benevolent 
manufacturer  finds  his  business  slipping  away,  then  it  is  gone. 


144  UNWISE  LAWS. 

and  he  finds  himself  bankrupt  ;  while  the  other  manufacturer 
has  all  the  business,  employs  all  the  workmen,  and  keeps  on  in 
his  course,  but  only  by  virtue  of  paying  the  lowest  prices  both 
for  his  materials  and  labor.  Thus  we  see  that  benevolence  in 
business  not  only  soon  prevents  the  benevolent  from  exercising 
benevolence,  but  also  places  himself  and  family  in  the  ranks  of 
the  destitute. 

When,  therefore,  we  see  manufacturers  advocating  protection 
because  protection  gives  higher  wages,  or,  as  we  have  before 
said,  because  protection  forces  them  to  pay  higher  wages,  we 
should  set  them  down  as  hypocrites  or  simpletons.  When  they 
advocate  protection  it  is  not  because  they  desire  or  design  to 
pay  higher  wages,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  competition  constantly 
tends  to  necessitate  lower  wages,  but  that  they  may  obtain 
higher  prices  for  their  goods.  The  necessity  of  self-preserva- 
tion impels  them  to  reduce  the  price  of  labor,  for  it  is  mainly 
by  a  reduction  of  the  cost  of  labor  that  they  are  enabled  to 
hold  their  own  in  the  face  of  competition,  or  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  face  of  competition  already  established.  If  manu- 
facturers desire  higher  wages,  why  do  strikes  ever  occur  ?  It 
is  only  because  manufacturers  either  reduce  wages  or  refuse  to 
advance  wages.  The  fact  is  wages  are  always  high  in  a  new 
and  growing  country.  Wages  being  high,  the  protected  manu- 
facturers claim  they  are  high  because  of  protection,  and  high 
wages  necessarily  prevailing,  protection  or  no  protection,  they 
claim  that  they  design  and  desire  that  they  should  be  high.  A 
more  hypocritical  or  a  more  utterly  unfounded  claim  never 
existed.  Let  human  nature  operate,  and  the  manufacturers 
will  reduce  labor  to  the  mere  point  of  existence  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  labor  would  insist  upon  such  high  wages  that  the 
manufacturers  would  be  starved.  Human  nature  can  never 
practise  benevolence  in  business,  for  however  many  might 
attempt  to  act  on  the  principle,  there  would  be  enough  acting 
on  the  principle  of  self-interest  utterly  to  root  out  the  first. 
So,  workmen,  so,  laborers  in  every  calling  and  every  profession. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  145 

when  you  think  manufacturers,  whether  protected  or  unpro- 
tected, desire  to  pay  high  wages,  you  deceive  yourselves.  So, 
manufacturers,  when  you  advance  this  claim  you  mean  to 
deceive,  and  unfortunately  you  do  deceive. 

One  moment's  thought  would  teach  you,  w^orkmen,  that  not 
only  do  not  manufacturers  advocate  protection  because  pro- 
tection aifords  higher  wages,  but  will  also  teach  you  that 
protection  itself  cannot  give  higher  wages  ;  for  if  protection 
could  give  higher  wages,  then  the  highest  wages  must  prevail  in 
Spain,  in  Portugal,  in  Mexico,  in  which  countries  the  principle 
reigns  supreme,  but  where,  on  the  contrary,  labor  is  idle,  ill- 
paid,  and  inefficient  ;  the  countries  themselves  are  sunk  in 
ignorance,  sloth,  and  impotence. 

Wages  are  high  in  spite  of  protection,  and  because  the 
country  is  new  and  growing,  and  manufacturers  no  more  desire 
to  pay  high  for  labor  than  to  pay  high  for  money,  for  material, 
or  for  any  thing  else. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 


THE    REMEDY. 


In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  taken  a  comprehensive 
view  of  the  effects  of  a  protective  tariff  upon  industrial  and 
commercial  affairs  ;  and  we  have  found  abundant  reason  for 
condemning  the  principle  of  protection,  not  only  because  of 
its  injurious  operation  upon  business,  but  also  because  of  its 
demoralizing  effects  upon  the  citizens,  who,  in  addition  to 
other  evil  consequences,  are  converted  from  a  nation  of  steady 
workers,  gaining  wealth  by  industry  and  economy,  into  a  nation 
of  restless,  impetuous  speculators,  who  hope  to  acquire  wealth 
by  gambling  on  the  future.  Having  found  these  ill  effects 
to  proceed  from  protection,  we  have  condemned  protec- 
tion not  only  in  its  details  but  especially  in  its  spirit  ;  we 
have  therefore  sought  to  pull  down  the  faulty  structure  we  live 


146  UNWISE  LAWS. 

in,  and  having  sought  to  destroy  it,  it  is  incumbent  now  to 
show  a  better  way,  and  to  propose  a  system  of  financial  and 
industrial  legislation  that  shall  operate  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
secure  us  release  from  our  present  difficulties  and  to  place  us 
beyond  the  danger  of  their  constant  recurrence. 

Our  forefathers,  when  they  laid  the  foundations  of  our  gov- 
ernment, wisely  built,  upon  the  broad  basis  of  equality,  a  theory 
of  government  entirely  unknown  in  practice  till  then  among 
civilized  nations.  As  regards  the  individual,  they  thought 
that  as  long  as  all  were  treated  alike,-  there  would  be  content- 
ment, for  none  could  then  complain  of  partiality  ;  but  they 
did  not  fully  realize  the  idea  in  practice,  for  the  suffrage  was 
very  restricted,  and  it  remained  for  modern  days  to  carry 
the  idea,  as  far  as  men  are  concerned — for  the  shackles  still 
remain  on  women, — to  perfection,  by  bestowing  the  suffrage 
upon  all  (with  few  exceptions  on  account  of  crime,  pauperism, 
or  imbecility)  who  have  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one.  There 
are  very  few  who  will  dispute  the  wisdom  of  bestowing  political 
equality  upon  all  ;  but  when  we  come  to  industrial  and  financial 
and  commercial  equality,  half  the  people  appear  to  think  that 
the  seeds  of  ruin  lurk  in  the  idea.  Equality  at  the  ballot-box 
and  before  a  criminal  court  seems  wise  ;  but  an  extension  of 
the  idea  to  equality  of  taxation,  equality  of  burden,  and  equality 
of  privilege,  appears  to  be  the  invention  of  the  Evil  One.  On 
this  account  our  legislation  resembles  the  boy  who  carried 
on  horseback  corn  to  the  mill.  He  put  all  the  grain  in  one 
end  of  the  sack,  and  finding  the  bag  would  not  stay  on  the 
horse,  he  made  it  stay  by  filling  the  other  end  with  stones. 
Now  we  have  done  the  same  in  our  legislation.  We  have  filled 
one  end  of  our  sack  with  the  sound  grain  of  equality  at  the 
ballot-box  and  equality  before  a  criminal  court,  but  instead  of 
balancing  the  sack  with  equality  of  taxation,  equality  of  bur- 
dens, and  equality  of  privileges,  we  have  filled  it  with  the 
stones  of  privilege,  partiality,  and  inequality.  A  little  thought 
would  have  told  the  boy  to  divide  the  corn  and  he  would  ac- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  147 

complish  his  end  without  the  additional  weight  of  the  stones  ; 
and  a  little  thought,  it  seems,  should  have  taught  us  that 
equality  was  not  only  good  in  part  but  that  it  was  also  good  in 
whole.  Equality,  then,  in  all  respects,  will  be  our  cure  for  the 
industrial  and  commercial  evils  that  afflict  us,  and  after  these 
evils  are  remedied  equality  will  be  the  principle  that  will  keep 
us  strong  and  prosperous,  and  how  to  secure  this  equality  we 
will  now  proceed  to  show. 

There  are  several  modes  of  taxation — namely,  direct  taxation, 
indirect  taxation,  and  taxation  by  excise,  or  what  we  call  in- 
ternal revenue.  All  methods  are  adopted  by  governments,  and 
some  governments  employ  all  at  the  same  time.  But  it  is  a 
maxim  of  good  government  that  taxation  shall  be  levied  on 
those  things  and  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  insure  the  great  bulk 
of  the  tax  reaching  the  treasury,  and  that  the  tax  shall  be  col- 
lected at  such  times  as  will  be  least  burdensome  to  the  citizen. 

Direct  taxation  has  this  advantage  :  it  makes  the  taxpayer 
personally  acquainted  with  what  taxation  is,  and  it  makes  him 
know  what  he  actually  contributes  to  the  support  of  the  govern- 
ment. Perhaps  the  majority  of  the  people  have  no  personal 
sense  whatever  that  government  is  a  buiden  to  be  paid  for  out 
of  their  own  pockets,  and  on  this  account  direct  taxation  would 
be  a  great  benefit,  for  when  people  know  they  have  to  pay  for 
any  thing,  they  are  the  more  particular  in  undertaking  that 
thing,  or  after  that  thing  is  engaged  in  they  will  be  all  the  more 
particular  to  see  that  it  is  managed  in  an  economical  business 
manner.  It  is  because  people  have  no  personal  sense  that  tax- 
ation comes  out  of  their  own  pockets  that  they  are  so  ready  to 
enter  into  wars,  and  to  uphold  their  legislators  in  the  extrava- 
gances of  enormous  pension  bills,  of  immense  river  and  harbor 
bills,  and  of  schemes  for  adorning  every  small  town  of  the  land 
with  expensive  public  buildings  Direct  taxation  would  have 
this  great  advantage  :  it  would  make  the  people  take  more  in- 
terest in  expenses  of  the  government,  and  would  tend  power- 
fully towards  economy  in  the  administration  of  government 


148  UNWISE  LAWS. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  direct  taxation  would  require  so  many 
collectors  that  the  expense  of  collection  would  be  great  and 
would  divert  a  large  part  of  the  revenue  from  the  treasury. 
Again,  the  taxes  would  have  to  be  made  payable  at  certain 
times,  say  quarterly,  and  at  these  periods  so  much  money  would 
be  taken  from  circulation  as  to  create  stringency  and  other 
commercial  disturbances,  large  sums  would  be  required  from 
many  individual  taxpayers,  and  the  burden  of  paying  these  large 
sums  would  be  very  onerous.  Under  direct  taxation  many 
men  would  have  to  advance  the  taxes  for  thousands,  to  be  reim- 
bursed gradually  as  they  could  by  the  sales  of  their  goods,  or  by 
some  other  distribution  of  the  tax  upon  the  individual.  Hence 
the  great  sums  many  taxpayers  must  advance,  and  hence  the 
burden  to  them  of  advancing  quarterly  or  semi-annually 
the  taxes  for  thousands.  Again,  direct  taxation  would  bring 
the  collector  in  contact  daily  with  at  least  half  the  popu- 
lation, and  as  he  would  be  the  visible  agent  for  making 
them  surrender  a  portion  of  what  they  possessed,  they  would 
begin  to  look  upon  the  collector  with  aversion,  and  finally 
as  an  enemy,  and  in  the  end  they  would  transfer  their 
enmity  from  the  agent  to  the  principal,  and  they  would 
at  last  regard  their  country  rather  as  an  enemy  than  as  a 
protector.  At  the  very  least,  the  sentiment  of  patriotism 
would  be  greatly  weakened.  Balancing  the  good  and  the  evil 
of  direct  taxation,  it  is  generally  discarded  as  far  as  possible  by 
wise  governments,  and  it  has  never  obtained  a  foothold  with  us. 

Having,  therefore,  discarded  one  of  the  principal  modes  of 
taxation,  we  are  now  reduced  to  the  other  two  modes — namely, 
indirect  taxation,  or  taxation  through  customs,  and  the  excise 
or  internal  revenue. 

An  excise  tax  is  always  unpopular,  for  if  not  burdensome  it 
is  yet  necessarily  inquisitive.  When  the  choice  is  between  in- 
direct taxation  and  excise,  the  former  will  always  be  preferred, 
but  when  the  amount  of  revenue  to  be  raised  is  very  large,  the 
two  forms  of  taxation  are  generally,  perhaps  always,  combined. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  149 

With  us  excise  for  many  years  must  necessarily  be  a  part  of 
our  fiscal  system,  not  so  much  on  account  of  the  onerous  legacy 
left  by  the  war,  but  because  the  demagogism  of  one  political 
party  and  the  cowardice  of  the  other  party,  assisted  by  protec- 
tionism, which  always  favors  any  public  expenditure,  however 
vicious  and  extravagant,  so  that  expenses  of  government  may 
be  maintained  at  such  a  height  as  to  render  unsafe  any  reduc- 
tion of  customs  duties,  has  saddled  upon  the  country  an 
enormous  system  of  pensions.  ^57,000,000  were  required  to 
pay  pensions  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1S84,  and  this 
amount  will  be  probably  increased,  for  the  reason  that  there 
were  at  the  same  date  claims  to  the  number  of  411,340  awaiting 
adjudication. 

And  there  is  another,  though  minor,  reason  why  the  system 
of  internal  revenue  is  destined  to  survive  many  years  longer, 
and  that  is,  the  same  demagogism  of  both  parties,  assisted  by 
the  same  protectionism,  whose  object  is  to  increase  public  ex- 
penses, that  customs  may  not  be  touched  ;  this  exhibits  itself 
in  zeal  for  immense  appropriations  for  the  improvements  of 
rivers  and  harbors,  and  in  appropriations  almost  as  great  for 
public  buildings  in  every  tovvn  of  a  few  thousand  inhabitants. 
It  is,  therefore,  principally  on  account  of  appropriations  for 
these  three  items — pensions,  rivers  and  harbors,  and  public 
buildings — that  the  system  of  internal  revenue  must  be  con- 
tinued, and  until  these  three  drains  upon  the  treasury  are  dried 
up,  it  is  vain,  utterly  vain,  to  clamor  and  to  agitate  for  the 
abolishing  of  the  entire  system. 

With  regard  to  improving  rivers  and  harbors  the  writer  goes 
so  far  as  to  admit  that  the  general  government  might  undertake 
to  improve  at  certain  points,  say  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississ- 
ippi or  at  some  great  harbor  like  New  York,  or  in  case  there 
was  no  good  harbor  on  the  Pacific  coast,  it  might  even  con- 
struct one  or  more  harbors,  for  in  these  cases  the  magnitude  of 
the  work  is  too  great  for  any  one  locality  to  undertake,  and 
the  work  is  of  such  a  general  nature  vast  portions  of  the  coun- 


150  UNWISE  LAWS. 

try  would  share  the  benefit  of  the  improvement.  But  as  these 
important  objects  cannot  be  gained  except  by  bribing  congress- 
men, in  whose  district  there  are  so-called  rivers  and  harbors, 
the  very  names  of  which  are  unknown  outside  of  their  States,  by 
voting  supplies  for  their  dry  creeks  or  mountain  streams  or 
harbors  without  a  vessel,  it  would  seem  the  part  of  wisdom 
to  forego  the  benefits  of  the  first  by  avoiding  the  evils 
of  the  last.  As  we  cannot  rid  the  country  of  this  trilogy 
of  evils  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  bear  the  incubus 
of  the  internal  revenue  for  many  years  to  come.  At  first 
sight  it  seems  a  hardship  that  the  growers  of  tobacco,  the 
distillers  of  whiskey,  and  the  brewers  of  malt  should  be 
required  to  bear  this  extra  burden,  and  they  might  with 
some  show  of  reason  say,  here  are  the  millers,  they  make 
annually  between  fifty  and  sixty  millions  of  barrels  of  flour, 
why  not  place  a  storekeeper  in  every  mill  and  not  allow 
a  barrel  to  leave  until  a  dollar  stamp  had  been  affixed  and  can- 
celled ;  or  they  might  say,  here  are  the  pig-iron  men,  they 
make  annually  about  five  millions  of  tons,  why  not  tax  them 
five  dollars  a  ton  ;  or  they  might  say,  here  are  the  manufacturers 
of  cotton  and  woollen  cloth,  make  them  contribute  to  the  rev- 
enue from  half  a  cent  to  two  cents  on  every  yard  of  cotton 
cloth  made,  and  from  ten  to  twenty-five  cents  on  every  yard 
of  woollen  cloth.  And  they  might  say  the  same  Avith  equal 
justice  to  all  other  manufacturers.  But  a  little  consideration 
will  show  that  tobacco  and  Avhiskey  are  the  most  suitable  arti- 
cles from  a  fiscal  point  of  view  to  place  under  tribute.  To  tax 
them  because  tobacco  is  a  luxury  and  because  it  is  a  sin  to 
drink  whiskey  or  beer,  and  that  therefore  the  use  of  these  arti- 
cles should  be  discouraged  by  high  taxation,  are  motives  too 
puerile  for  consideration.  They  should  be  taxed  because  they 
are  certain  to  yield  a  large  revenue  at  all  times.  As  long  as 
the  tastes  of  people  remain  as  they  are,  it  is  certain  that  they 
will  use  stimulants  and  narcotics  in  sufficient  quantities  to  pro- 
duce large  returns.     To  tax  flour  and  the  other  articles  men- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  151 

tioned,  while  they  too  would  yield  a  large  revenue,  would  be 
to  tax  those  things  that  necessity  compels  to  use.  The  tax 
would  therefore  be  felt  to  be  a  burden  by  all,  and  it  would  bear 
with  special  severity  on  the  poorest.  But  the  tax  on  tobacco 
and  whiskey  is  not  felt  as  a  burden,  for  few  use  in  any  one 
day  or  week  in  large  enough  quantities  to  feel  the  extra  ex- 
pense that  the  tax  entails.  And  in  order  to  their  full  enjoy- 
ment one  is  not  compelled  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  them  and 
therefore  pay  a  large  tax  at  any  one  time,  but  every  moment 
that  one  takes  a  chew  of  tobacco  or  smokes  a  pipe  or  a  cigar, 
or  takes  a  drink  of  whiskey  or  beer,  he  pays  an  infinitesimal  tax 
in  the  very  act  of  enjoyment,  when  he  neither  feels  nor  cares 
for  the  burden. 

But  suppose  Congress  should  abolish  internal  revenue,  what 
would  be  the  result  ?  The  result  would  be  that  the  $125,000,000 
now  collected  from  this  source  would  have  to  be  raised  from 
customs,  and  in  order  to  do  this  the  import  duties  already  in- 
ordinately high  would  have  to  be  largely  increased.  This  would 
most  likely  so  cut  off  importations  as  to  produce  less  from  the 
enhanced  duties  than  from  those  already  prevailing,  and  the 
country  would  have  to  discharge  its  ordinary  obligations  by 
resorting  to  loans. 

We  now  approach  the  subject  of  indirect  taxation,  which  from 
the  unwise  method  in  which  it  is  imposed  is  the  cause  of  our 
present  industrial  woes,  and  the  vital  question  is  how  shall  it 
be  laid.  Under  the  present  system  every  man  and  every  in- 
terest is  for  itself,  and  Congress  is  the  Mecca  tov/ards  which 
every  selfish  scheme  turns  its  eyes.  For  example,  certain  men 
wish  to  engage  in  the  manufacture  of  silk  goods,  and  how  do 
they  act.  They  go  to  Congress  and  by  various  devices  they 
lobby  through  a  bill  to  allow  the  free  importation  of  raw  silk, 
but  not  satisfied  with  that  concession  they  scheme  further  and 
secure  the  imposition  of  a  tax  of  60  per  cent,  on  silk  goods. 
They  modestly  placed  the  tax  at  60  per  cent,  instead  of  100 
per  cent.,  because  they  believed  that  60  would  prevent  their 


152  UNWISE  LAWS. 

fellow-citizens  from  obtaining  silk,  except  from  them,  as  effec- 
tually as  loo.  Again,  a  party  of  men  wished  to  make  plate 
glass  and  they  get  Congress  to  allow  the  machinery  for  the 
production  of  the  article  to  come  in  free.  They  made  money, 
and  when  others  proposed  to  engage  in  the  same  business,  in 
order  to  prevent  them  they  got  Congress  to  repeal  the  law  allowing 
the  free  importation  of  plate-glass  machinery,  and  they  thereby 
shut  out  competition.  In  other  words,  our  present  laws  regu- 
lating indirect  taxation  have  been  the  medium  which  selfish 
and  grasping  men  have  made  use  of  for  levying  taxation,  not 
for  the  benefit  of  the  treasury  but  for  the  purpose  of  diverting 
the  substance  of  the  people  into  their  own  pockets.  While  a 
period  has  been  placed  to  new  plans  for  fleecing  the  public,  yet 
the  schemes  matured  and  executed  in  the  past  are  still  in  lively 
existence,  and  they  can  only  be  eradicated  not  by  a  reform 
but  by  a  radical  change  in  our  system  of  indirect  taxation. 

And  how  can  this  be  done  ?  It  can  be  done  only  by  engraft- 
ing in  our  industrial  and  financial  legislation  the  same  equality 
that  we  boast  of  in  our  political  and  judicial  legislation.  What 
would  be  thought  of  a  law,  I  do  not  say  of  its  justice  but  of  its 
wisdom,  that  refused  a  vote  to  a  man  in  one  calling,  that  gave 
one  vote  to  a  man  in  a  different  calling,  and  that  gave  two  or 
three  or  twenty  votes  to  a  man  in  some  other  occupation  ?  Or 
of  a  law  that  said  A  should  be  imprisoned  twelve  months  for  a 
specified  offence,  that  B  should  be  imprisoned  two  years  for 
the  same  offence,  and  that  C  should  be  imprisoned  five  years 
for  the  same  offence  ?  Or  of  a  law  that  should  say  that  carpenters 
should  pay  one  per  cent,  taxes,  merchants  should  pay  two  per 
cent.,  and  that  professional  men  should  pay  five  per  cent? 
There  could  be  but  one  answer,  and  that  would  be,  such  laws 
would  be  a  disgrace,  and  there  would  be  no  rest  till  they  were 
repealed. 

And  yet  our  customs  laws  are  in  principle  and  operation  not 
one  iota  different  from  them.  For  the  law  enacts  that  a  dealer 
in  tea,  or  coffee,  or  hides,  or  rubber,  shall  pay  no  tax  on  what 


UNWISE  LAWS.  153 

he  trades  in,  but  that  his  neighbor  who  deals  in  sugar  or  rice 
shall  pay  very  heavy  taxes.  The  dealer  in  tin  walks  erect 
through  the  custom-house,  but  his  brother  who  imports  iron 
creeps  slowly  along,  bending  under  the  weight  of  a  heavy  bur- 
den. And  of  those  who  bear  burdens  we  find  one  frisking 
along  under  a  weight  of  ten  per  cent.,  while  another  is  almost 
as  spry  under  a  weight  of  fifteen  per  cent.  Another  we  per- 
ceive showing  signs  of  his  weight,  and  on  inspection  we  find  his 
burden  is  twenty-five  per  cent.  Following  some  distance  in 
the  rear,  we  note  others  plodding  along  wearily,  and  we  find 
good  cause  for  their  sufferings,  for  their  burden  is  forty  and 
fifty  per  cent. ;  and  finally  we  see  some  utterly  exhausted,  for 
they  have  fallen  along  the  wayside,  prostrated  by  a  burden  of 
one  hundred  per  cent,  and  more.  In  the  vast  throng  we  find  no 
two  treated  alike,  for  some  are  flesh,  some  are  fowl,  and  some 
are  not  even  good  red-herring. 

Can  such  a  system,  if  any  thing  can  be  called  system  which 
is  a  mere  patchwork  of  selfishness,  where  every  man  is  for 
himself  and  where  the  Devil  is  to  catch  the  hindmost,  and,  un- 
fortunately, the  people  are  the  hindmost  and  the  Devil  has 
them  most  securely,  be  any  thing  but  most  injurious  in  its 
operation  and  most  destructive  in  its  effects  ?  That  it  has 
borne  its  natural  fruits  all  must  agree  when  they  behold  the 
stagnation  and  the  prostration  prevailing  all  around  them. 

Now  why  should  there  be  all  this  inequality  in  our  industrial 
and  commercial  relations  ?  If  we  had  one  hundredth  part  of 
it  in  our  political  relations  there  would  be  no  rest  and  no  peace 
until  the  inequality  was  corrected.  We  all  agree  that  equality 
works  well  politically  ;  then  why  should  it  not  work  well  com- 
mercially and  industrially  ?  Or,  if  inequality  works  well  in- 
dustrially and  commercially,  why  would  it  not  work  well  polit- 
ically ?  Either  equality  should  be  universal  or  inequality 
should  be  universal.  As  Mr.  Seward  expressed  the  idea  years 
ago,  the  country  cannot  remain  part  free  and  i)art  slave  ;  it 
must  be  all   one   or  all  the  other.     Thus,  when  part  of  our 


154  UNWISE  LAWS. 

laws  are  thoroughly  equal  and  part  as  thoroughly  unequal,  we 
are  in  the  condition  of  the  country  prior  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  and  as  there  could  be  no  peace  until  slavery  was  tri- 
umphant or  destroyed,  so  there  can  be  no  rest  until  our  financial 
legislation  is  as  impartial  as  our  political  legislation.  There  is 
an  irrepressible  conflict  between  them. 

So,  go  hang  the  banner  on  the  outer  wall,  and  proclaim 

Equality  of  Taxation  ! 

And  does  this  mean  that  there  are  to  be  no  free  raw  materials  ? 
Yes,  it  means  that,  for  why  should  coal  and  iron  ore,  which 
are  raw  materials  for  pig-iron,  come  in  free,  and  not  allow  cloth 
and  trimmings,  which  are  as  much  the  raw  materials  of  the 
great  clothing  manufacturer,  to  come  in  free  also  ?  Does  it 
mean  no  free  ships  ?  Yes,  it  means  no  free  ships  ;  for  if  ships 
come  in  free,  why  not  iron,  and  copper,  and  timber,  and 
cordage,  and  sails,  which  are  ships  when  properly  put  to- 
gether ?  No  reciprocity  treaties  ?  Yes,  no  reciprocity  treaties, 
or  have  a  reciprocity  treaty  with  every  nation. 

And  does  equality  of  taxation  mean  not  only  that  every 
thing  imported  is  to  be  taxed,  but  that  every  thing  is  to  be  taxed 
at  the  same  rate  ?  Yes,  it  means  just  that.  What,  you  ask,  tax 
guano,  which  doubles  the  produce  of  our  fields,  the  same  as 
silks,  which  administer  mainly  to  the  vanity  of  silly  women  ? 
Tax  quinine,  which  mitigates  the  horrors  of  chills  and  fever 
which  otherwise  would  render  almost  uninhabitable  large  por- 
tions of  our  land,  the  same  as  opium,  which  demoralizes  and 
stupefies  its  victims  ?  Yes,  tax  them  all  and  tax  them  equally. 
You  may  ask  further  :  do  you  not  consider  guano  much  more 
beneficial  to  the  country  than  are  silks,  and  quinine  than 
opium  }  I  reply  :  Certainly,  guano  and  quinine  are  more  use- 
ful than  silk  and  opium.  Then  why  tax  them  alike  I  For  the 
very  simple  and  sufficient  reason  that  if  an  exception  is  made 
in  favor  of  one  article,  just  as  if  the  judge  respects  persons  he 
at  once  brings  the  law  into  disrepute  and  destroys  its  author- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  155 

ity,  the  whole  principle  of  equality  is  destroyed,  and  the  door 
is  again  opened  wide  for  the  renewal  of  that  system  where 
the  most  persistent,  the  most  brazen,  and  the  most  shameless 
gained  their  ends,  which  were  always  for  their  benefit  at  the 
expense  of  the  people,  while  the  honest  and  the  worthy  failed 
of  theirs  because  they  would  not  resort  to  bribery,  chicanery, 
and  fraud.  Make  one  exception,  and  Congress  is  at  once  be- 
sieged by  every  interest  to  make  an  exception  in  its  behalf ; 
make  one  exception,  and  the  vestibule  of  Congress  is  at  once 
filled  with  lobbyists,  both  male  and  female,  promoting  plans  of 
every  description  for  draining  the  treasury.  Make  an  excep- 
tion in  favor  of  one  article,  and  every  other  article  can  plead  : 
If  that  article  was  favored,  mine  surely  ought  to  be  favored  too. 
And,  if  other  articles  should  not  be  favored,  they  would  then 
combine  against  the  favored  article  and  say:  If  we  can't  get  what 
we  want,  then  you  sha'n't  keep  what  you  have.  And  so  it  ends 
by  the  favored  few  combining  with  the  unfavored  many,  and 
by  all  getting  within  the  charmed  circle  of  favoritism.  Give 
an  inch  and  not  only  an  ell  is  taken,  but  finally  the  whole  piece 
of  cloth  disappears.  Of  course  some  injury  and  some  hard- 
ship would  ensue  from  the  adoption  of  impartial  taxation,  for 
what  law  of  general  operation  does  not  cause  hardship  in  par- 
ticular instances  ?  for  even  the  law  of  gravitation,  which  keeps 
sun,  moon,  and  stars  in  their  appropriate  places,  will  cause  the 
death  of  the  darling  child  who,  in  his  ignorance,  leans  far 
enough  over  the  banister  to  lose  its  balance  ;  but  the  advan- 
tages, of  impartiality  so  vastly  overbalance  its  disadvantages 
that  we  should  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  adopt  it,  or  to  put  it 
in  shape  for  final  adoption. 

But  will  not  impartial  taxation,  such  as  is  here  proposed,  in- 
jure and  perhaps  ruin  many  existing  industries  ?  Undoubtedly 
it  will.  A  vast  number  of  readjustments  will  have  to  follow 
its  adoption.  But  we  are  not  free  from  losses  and  disturbances 
and  readjustments  under  the  present  order  of  things,  and  do 
we  not  experience  them  every  year,  and  some  years  to  so  great 


156  UNWISE  LAWS. 

an  extent  that  almost  universal  bankruptcy  stares  us  in  the 
face  ?  Because  one  is  sick  or  diseased,  is  that  any  reason  why 
he  should  avoid  a  long  and  painful  course  of  treatment  in 
order  to  get  well  ?  A  few  years  ago  the  country  was  in  a 
state  of  suspension  of  specie  payments.  Did  we  not  go 
through  a  long  and  painful  course  of  preparation  for  the  time 
of  resumption,  and  have  we  ever  regretted  the  painful  regimen 
Ave  endured  for  the  purpose  of  regaining  a  specie  standard  ? 
No  ;  the  very  fact  of  being  in  an  unsound,  diseased  condition 
is  the  reason  why  we  should  take  prompt  and  immediate  steps 
for  recovering.  We  are  and  we  have  been  in  a  diseased  condition 
for  years,  and  the  crisis  has  been  upon  us  for  several  years,  but 
we  do  not  rally  because  we  have  taken  no  steps  to  provide  the 
remedy.  The  last  Congress  made  a  feeble  step  in  the  right 
direction,  but  the  effort  was  stifled  in  its  birth.  The  next 
Congress,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  be  more  successful,  but  if  it 
attempts  to  cure  the  splotches  in  the  face  and  the  sores  on  the 
body,  merely  making  clear  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  the 
platter  without  going  to  the  root  of  the  evil,  it  will  accomplish 
nothing  permanent.  Unless  it  sets  in  motion  a  plan  whereby 
the  principle  of  protection  will  be  destroyed,  trampling  under 
foot  the  hypocrisy  of  incidental  protection,  and  whereby  taxa- 
tion will  be  strictly  for  revenue  alone,  it  will  leave  the  country 
a  prey  to  all  the  vicissitudes  which  have  beset  us  since  1873. 
Congress  need  not  cut  up  protection  at  one  fell  sweep,  but 
it  must  adopt  a  scheme,  the  end  of  which  will  be  its  destruc- 
tion within  a  few  years.  The  end  must  be  seen  from  the 
beginning.  A  half  a  loaf  may  be  better  than  no  bread,  and  it 
may  therefore  be  better  for  the  next  House  of  Representatives  to 
content  itself  if  it  cannot  cure,  at  least  to  improve,  and  it  may 
be  wise  to  secure  whatever  improvement  of  the  tariff  that  is 
possible,  but  let  it  only  be  accepted  as  a  part  of  the  scheme 
which  must  ultimately  lead  to  the  death  of  protection  as  a 
principle.  Let  not  Congress  shrink  from  its  duty  ;  let  it  not 
only  meet,  but  let  it  attack  protection,  and  the  day  cannot  be 


UNWISE  LAWS.  157 

far  distant  when  if  equality  is  good  politically  it  must  be  seen 
to  be  good  financially,  and  then  equality  of  taxation  will  wear 
the  honors  and  the  country  will  reap  the  rewards  of  victory. 


^  CHAPTER   XX. 

THE  REMEDY. — {Continued^ 

The  only  proper  system  of  customs  taxation  is  as  follows  : 
Take  any  year,  say  the  fiscal  year  ending  June 
30,   1884.     The  expenditures  of  that  year 
were  in  round  numbers        ....     ^300,000,000 
And  the  receipts  from  internal  revenue  were     .       122,000,000 


Leaving  a  balance  to  be  otherwise  provided  for  of     $178,000,000 
The  total  imports  of  merchandise  for  1884  were       668,000,000 

Now  levy  a  duty  of  27I  per  cent,  or  say  of  30  per  cent.,  on 
every  thing  imported,  and  we  have  a  revenue  sufficient  to  meet 
all  expenses  and  for  a  sinking  fund  besides. 

The  annual  estimates  for  raising  revenue  might  be  as  fol- 
lows :  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  making  his  estimates 
for  year  ending  June  30,  1887,  might  estimate  thus  :  He  finds 
that  the  revenue  for  the  fiscal  year  1885  was  the  same  say  as 
for  1884,  and  seeing  no  reasons  why  importations  should  be 
smaller  for  1887,  he  estimates  on  the  basis  of  that  year,  and  if 
the  per  centum  of  that  year  was  sufficient  for  the  expenses  and 
a  surplus  besides,  he  would  recommend  to  Congress  the  same 
rate  of  duty  as  for  1884,  provided  the  expenses  of  government 
were  estimated  at  the  same.  Or  if  requirements  for  revenue 
were  supposed  to  be  greater,  he  would  recommend  a  higher 
rate  ;  or  if  smaller,  he  would  recommend  a  smaller  rate.  If 
any  unforeseen  circumstance  should  diminish  the  revenue  or 
increase  the  expenses,  the  surplus  of  previous  years  could  be 
drawn  upon  to  supply  the  deficiency.     And  in  his  next  annual 


158  UNWISE  LAWS. 

estimates  the  Secretary  would  recommend  such  an  increase  as 
would  be  sufficient  for  expenses  and  to  restore  the  surplus  that 
had  been  impaired  or  exhausted. 

It  may  be  objected  that  merchants  would  have  to  accommo- 
date themselves  to  a  shifting  scale  of  duties,  the  rate  of  which 
they  could  never  know  for  any  long  period  in  advance.  But 
this  objection  does  not  amount  to  a  great  deal,  for  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances  the  rate  of  duty  would  rarely  vary  as  much 
as  five  per  cent.,  and  except  in  very  rare  cases  the  merchant 
would  know,  not  in  time  to  speculate,  but  in  full  time  to  adjust 
his  purchases  to  the  duties,  even  should  they  vary  as  much  as 
five  per  cent.  But  in  case  of  distant  shipments,  as  from  China 
and  Japan,  a  proviso  could  be  inserted  which  allowed  entry  of 
goods  at  the  same  rate  that  prevailed  on  the  day  of  clearance. 

If  exception  could  be  made  in  favor  of  the  lower  qualities 
of  raw  materials,  it  would  seem  advisable  to  do  so,  but  then  if  an 
exception  was  made  in  their  favor,  encroachments  in  favor  of 
other  things  would  be  made,  until  finally  all  the  abuses  of  the 
present  system  would  be  again  restored.  But  as  asked  in  the 
previous  chapter.  Why  should  the  producers  of  raw  materials 
be  taxed  while  others  were  freed,  for  making  them  free  would 
virtually  be  a  taxation  of  them  ?  In  the  situation  of  a  country 
like  England,  so  dependent  for  her  very  existence  upon  manu- 
factures, the  taxing  of  raw  materials  might  greatly  impede  her 
progress,  and  it  might  eventuate  in  driving  her  out  of  many 
markets,  but  the  same  objection  does  not  apply  to  us,  because 
our  prosperity  depends,  and  will  depend  for  many  years  to  come, 
mainly  on  agriculture. 

But  an  exception  might  be  made  in  favor  of  some  articles 
by  taxing  them  less  than  the  average,  and  the  difference  might 
be  made  up  by  taxing  other  articles  above  the  average.  In 
these  cases,  however,  if  the  duty  was  much  above  the  average 
it  should  be  modified  by  the  imposition  of  an  excise  duty  upon 
the  article  produced  at  home  ;  for  if  the  profits  of  the  manu- 
facturer were  not  modified  by  an  excise  duty,  the  profits  at  first 


UNWISE  LAWS.  159 

in  that  branch  of  manufacture  would  be  so  great  as  to  attract 
an  undue  amount  of  capital  thereto,  and  we  would  have  therein 
a  period  of  inflation,  congestion,  and  collapse,  to  be  repeated 
regularly  every  few  years,  just  as  under  the  present  system. 
For  instance  if  the  average  duty  was  twenty-five  per  cent.,  and 
the  duty  was  reduced  to  ten  per  cent,  on  many  items,  and  the 
fifteen  per  cent,  was  added  to  the  twenty-five,  making  the  duty 
forty  per  cent,  on  iron  or  on  carpets,  for  example,  then  should 
there  be  placed  an  excise  duty  of  fifteen  per  cent,  on  iron  and 
carpets,  for  otherwise  the  business  of  iron  and  carpet  making 
would  have  an  undue  advantage  over  other  occupations,  capi- 
tal would  be  attracted  thereto  in  unusual  amounts,  the  business 
would  be  overdone,  and  stagnation  and  finally  prostration 
would  ensue.  And  while  in  the  meantime  many  manufacturers 
would  make  large  fortunes,  the  country  would  be  impoverished 
by  the  sinking  of  large  amounts  of  capital  in  surplus  factories 
and  machinery. 

Objection  will  be  made  to  this  plan  of  raising  revenue  from 
customs  on  account  of  it  being  altogether  ad  valorem.  Many 
will  say  we  oppose  ad  valorem  because  it  is  the  cause  for  so 
many  frauds  ;  it  is  so  easy  to  undervalue  and  so  hard  to  detect 
undervaluation  we  object  to  the  whole  system  ;  give  us  specific 
duties.  While  no  one  denies  that  the  ad-valorem  system 
admits  of  frauds,  is  the  system  of  specific  duties  free  from 
frauds  ?  We  shall  see  ;  but  before  doing  so  let  us  consider  a 
little  the  soundness  and  the  propriety  of  the  ad-valorem  system. 
We  presume  no  fair-minded  person  objects  to  the  system  in 
itself,  for  nothing  can  be  fairer  than  to  tax  things  according  to 
their  value,  but  the  objector  thinks  there  are  too  many  frauds 
in  connection  with  it.  But  is  there  any  reason  why  there 
should  be  any  unusual  frauds  inseparable  from  the  system  ? 
We  think  not,  for  while  all  fraud  cannot  be  prevented,  any 
unreasonable  amount  of  fraud  can  easily  be,  provided  honest 
and  capable  appraisers  are  employed  at  home,  and  honest  and 
capable  men,  men  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  learn  their  busi- 


l6o  UNWISE  LAWS. 

ness,  and  to  attend  to  it,  are  appointed  consuls  abroad,  and 
provided  there  are  honest  and  capable  men,  men  superior  to 
party  and  who  will  see  that  their  subordinates  attend  to 
their  duties,  are  in  charge  of  the  Treasury  Department.  And 
it  is  certainly  not  impossible  to  find  such  men.  And  in  addi- 
tion to  this  there  are  lynx-eyed  inporters  and  manufacturers 
forever  on  the  alert  to  discover  frauds  of  undervaluations,  for 
as  soon  as  goods  are  found  in  the  market  at  a  lower  price  than 
they  think  right  they  immediately  set  the  custom-house  officers 
on  the  track  of  the  suspected  parties.  We  think  it  may  be 
safely  asserted  that  the  frauds  on  the  revenue  caused  by  under- 
valuation do  not  exceed  one  per  cent,  of  the  sums  collected, 
and  that  surely  is  a  very  small  amount. 

But  are  frauds  entirely  prevented  by  specific  duties  ?  Cer- 
tainly not ;  for  is  it  not  as  easy  to  bribe  a  weigher  to  report  a 
less  quantity  of  goods  as  it  is  to  bribe  an  appraiser  to  overlook 
an  undervaluation  ;  and  it  is  no  doubt  easier,  for  a  higher  grade 
of  man  is  needed  for  appraiser  than  for  weigher.  Honesty 
and  capacity  will  prevent  frauds  in  ad  valorem  as  well  as  in 
specific  duties,  and  dishonesty  and  incapacity  will  equally  wink 
at  frauds  in  both  systems,  so  on  the  question  of  frauds  the  ad- 
valore?n  system  is  no  more  open  to  objection  than  the  specific 
system. 

Now  let  us  examine  the  fairness  of  the  specific  system  ;  for 
unless  the  cheapest  and  the  highest  priced,  the  meanest  and 
the  best  are  taxed  the  same  rate,  the  ad-valorem  system  is  at 
once  reestablished.  For  example,  the  price  of  tea  in  the  New 
York  market  ranges  from  lo  cents  to  60  or  65  cents  a  pound, 
and  suppose  there  is  a  specific  duty  of  10  cents  a  pound,  which 
would  be  a  very  moderate  rate,  what  is  the  effect  ?  The  effect 
is  that  the  poor  who  can  only  afford  the  cheapest  tea  have  to 
pay  a  duty  of  from  50  to  100  per  cent.,  while  those  who  can 
afford  to  drmk  good  tea  pay  only  from  15  to  25  per  cent. 
Woollen  cloths,  in  which  class  are  included  mixed  goods  in 
which  wool  is  of  chief  value,  vary  from  30  cents  a  yard  or  less 


UNWISE  LAWS.  l6l 

to  $2  a  yard  and  upwards  (single  width),  and  suppose  there  is 
a  specific  tax  of  what  would  be  equivalent  to  30  per  cent,  on 
the  $2.00  cloth,  and  it  could  hardly  be  less,  this  would  be  sixty 
cents  a  yard  specific  tax,  and  the  result  would  be  that  the  poor, 
who  are  vastly  the  majority,  would  pay  from  100  to  200  per 
cent,  duty,  while  those  well  off  would  pay  from  30  to  50  per 
cent.  And  through  the  whole  long  list  of  goods  used 
the  same  discrimination  against  those  who  are  least  able  to 
stand  it  would  be  practised,  and  the  end  would  be  that  the 
specific  system  of  duties  would  oblige  the  great  majority  of  the 
people  to  drink  poorer  tea  and  coffee,  to  eat  meaner  sugar  and 
other  foreign  edibles,  and  to  wear  thinner  clothing  than  under 
the  ad-valorem  system,  so  that  their  stomachs  would  suffer  from 
inferior  foods  and  drinks,  and  their  limbs  would  shiver  from 
the  blasts  of  winter  blowing  through  their  scanty  garments. 
To  the  great  majority  of  the  people  ad  valorem  as  here  pro- 
prosed  means  30  per  cent.  ;  specific  duties  mean  from  100  to 
200  per  cent.  To  the  minority  ad  valorem  means  the  same  30 
per  cent.,  but  specific  duties  mean  from  10  to  15  to  25  per 
cent,  at  the  outside. 

Seeing  then  that  the  specific  system  of  customs  revenue  is 
as  obnoxious  to  the  charge  of  fraud  as  the  ad-valorem  system, 
and  that  fraud  is  as  easy  to  practise  in  the  one  system 
as  in  the  other,  and  as  easy  to  be  prevented,  whence  arises 
the  objection  to  the  ad-valorem  system  and  the  preference  for 
the  specific  system.  There  are  two  reasons  for  the  preference, 
where  it  exists,  for  the  specific  system.  The  prime  and  prin- 
cipal reason  is  the  selfishness  of  the  manufacturers,  and  the 
second  and  inferior  reason  is,  in  addition,  the  influence  of  the 
sophistries  of  the  manufacturers  ;  many  think  it  so  easy  to  count 
yards  and  to  weigh  pounds  there  is  no  chance  for  fraud.  But 
they  overlook  the  fact  that  while  it  is  easy  to  weigh  pounds  and 
to  count  yards,  it  is  just  as  easy,  for  a  consideration,  to  report 
for  duties  less  quantities  of  both,  and  it  is  just  as  certain  that 
this  will  be  done  when  the  superior  officers  neglect  their  duty. 


1 62  UNWISE  LAWS. 

But  the  main  reason  is  the  selfishness  of  the  manufacturers. 
And  why  are  specific  duties  for  their  interest  ?  As  we  have 
just  seen,  specific  duties  would  impose  a  much  higher  rate  of 
taxation  upon  the  commoner  and  medium  goods  than  upon 
the  better  and  best  goods  The  amount  of  common  and 
medium  goods  consumed  is  greatly  larger  than  of  the  better 
and  best  goods.  The  higher  and  best  qualities  of  goods  are 
not  as  readily  produced  here  as  abroad.  So  then  here  comes 
in  the  interest  of  the  manufacturers  Being  unable  to  compete 
in  the  highest-priced  goods  with  the  foreign  manufacturers,  the 
comparative  low  rate  of  duties  on  them  would  not  affect  them 
materially,  but  on  the  common  and  medium  goods  the  tax  im- 
posed by  specific  duties  would  be  so  excessive  they  would  be 
shut  out  completely,  and  the  home  manufacturers  would  there- 
fore have  the  market  all  to  themselves.  This  is  already  seen 
in  the  matter  of  woollens,  where  specific  duties  prevail  to  a 
great  extent. 

Thus  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1884,  the  importa- 
tions of  cheap  and  medium  woollen  and  mixed  woollen  cloths 
was  of  the  value  of  only  $249,975,  while  of  better  and  best 
goods,  valued  at  over  80  cents  a  pound,  the  importation  was  of 
the  value  of  $12,973,683.  Flannels  to  the  value  of  only  $305,- 
825,  and  they  of  the  best  grades,  were  imported,  and  no  cheap 
blankets  or  cheap  carpets  While  specific  duties  already  bear 
most  heavily  upon  woollen  goods,  an  inspection  of  customs 
receipts  will  show  a  similar  though  less  extreme  state  of  facts 
with  regard  to  other  goods.  Hence  it  is  that  the  manufacturers 
demand  specific  duties,  for  it  is  through  means  of  specific  duties 
they  would  secure  the  home  market  at  the  expense  of  the  great 
body  of  the  citizens  who  are  the  less  able  to  bear  the  burden. 

Those  who  profit  by  abuses  always  utter  lamentations  and 
predict  general  ruin,  when  they  are  bereft  of  the  unjust  privi- 
leges they  have  enjoyed,  and  it  will,  therefore,  only  be  natural 
for  those  who  have  profited  by  the  unjust  discriminations  of  our 
present  tariff,  to  proclaim  that  the  country  is  ruined  if  they  are 


UNWISE  LAWS.  163 

forced,  by  the  adoption  of  such  a  measure  of  taxation,  to  sit  at 
the  public  table  not  as  spoilt  and  pampered  children,  but  as  the 
common  children  of  a  common  country.  The  emigres  plotted 
against  their  country  when  the  revolution  deprived  them  of  the 
privilege  they  had  enjoyed  for  generations,  of  living  in  luxury 
and  idleness  at  the  expense  of  the  people.  The  Algirene 
Corsairs  thought  the  world  was  turned  topsy-turvy,  when  they 
were  deprived  of  their  privilege,  consecrated  by  long  enjoyment, 
of  roving  the  seas,  and  reducing  to  dreadful  captivity  the  un- 
fortunate Christians  who  fell  into  their  power  ;  and  so  the  pro- 
tectionists, who  are  neither  exiles  nor  pirates,  but  who  have 
taught  themselves  to  believe  that  the  sole  object  of  govern- 
ment is  to  stimulate  manufactures,  utterly  regardless  of  every 
other  interest,  will  imagine  that  the  country  is  plunging  into 
ruin,  because  they  would  then  be  compelled  to  make  their 
living,  like  other  people,  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  What ! 
take  them  out  of  a  hot-house,  and  force  them  to  live  in  the 
open  air,  where  the  rain  would  fall  and  the  sun  shine  upon  them 
like  ordinary  people,  and  where  they  must  endure  the  summer's 
sun  and  face  the  winter's  blast.  No  !  the  thing  is  impossible. 
The  country  must  be  ruined  if  it  is  done. 

We  can  picture  to  ourselves  Mr.  Swank,  who  is  the  Secretary 
of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Association  of  America,  the  strongest 
and  most  arbitary  trades  union  in  the  land,  going  through  the 
country  like  the  olden  prophet,  who  went  about  the  streets 
proclaiming  that  in  three  days  Nineveh  should  be  destroyed, 
crying  in  lugubrious  accents,  "  Boo,  boo,  boo,  in  six  months  the 
country  is  ruined,"  and  we  see  him  joined  by  the  Scretary  of 
the  Silk  Association  of  America,  uttering  the  same  mournful 
"boo,  boo,  boo,"  and  by  the  blanket-makers,  and  the  carpet- 
makers,  and  by  all  the  other  manufacturers  of  that  sacred  thing 
— wool,  all  crying  in  concert,  the  country  is  ruined.  We  can 
imagme  this  sad  procession  marching  through  the  land,  rival- 
ling Cassandra  in  the  dreadful  character  of  their  predictions. 

As  Mr.  Swank  is  high  authority  on  the  subject  of  the  ruin 


164  UNWISE  LAWS. 

of  countries,  fear  soon  begins  to  overspread  the  land,  and  as 
the  end  of  the  fatal  six  months  approaches,  the  United  States 
resembles  Europe  at  the  close  of  the  year  1000.  The  theolo- 
gians had  indubitably  demonstrated  from  Sacred  Writ,  that  the 
world  would  be  distroyed  at  the  expiration  of  the  year  1000 
and  when  the  last  day  came,  dire  consternation  filled  the  heart 
of  every  man,  and  despair  was  written  on  the  face  of  every 
human  being.  As  the  sun  arose  above  the  sky  every  creature 
beheld  it  as  for  the  last  time.  People  refused  to  cook,  they 
refused  to  eat.  Those  who  could  crowded  the  churches  and 
smote  heaven  with  their  supplications,  while  the  crowds  who 
could  not  find  entrance  besieged  the  doors,  so  that  they  might 
at  least  be  within  their  shadow  when  the  last  trump  was 
sounded.  As  12  midnight  approached,  the  very  frenzy  of 
despair  took  universal  possession  of  mankind,  but  when  the 
very  hour  struck  and  no  trump  of  angels  was  heard,  and  no 
lurid  conflagrations  were  seen  to  approach  to  consume 
them,  man  recovered  hope  and  went  about  his  business 
as  before.  And  so  it  will  be  with  us.  Before  the  expira- 
tion of  the  appointed  six  months,  the  rich  and  the  well-to-do 
will  have  collected  their  most  precious  valuables,  and  fled  away 
— some  to  Canada,  some  to  Mexico,  but  the  great  majority  to 
Europe,  while  some  in  their  dreadful  perplexity  will  have  gone 
anywhere,  to  escape  the  ruin  Mr.  Swank  has  foretold.  The 
steamship  owners  will  not  then  lament  the  small  quantity  of 
wheat  we  are  shipping,  and  the  utter  dearth  of  manufactured 
goods  shipped  to  the  benighted  of  other  countries,  for  their 
vessels  will  be  loaded  down  to  the  gunwales  with  the  fleeing 
fugitives,  and  they  will  only  lament  that  Mr.  Swank  did  not 
allow  twelve  instead  of  six  months  for  the  ruin  of  the  country, 
for  in  that  event  their  harvest  would  have  lasted  long  enough  to 
recover  all  past  losses. 

Of  course,  however,  the  vast  majority  of  the  people,  including 
to  be  sure  all  the  workmen  for  whom  Mr.  Swank  has  for  years 
shown  such  tender  solicitude,  must  remain  at  home  and  endure 


UNWISE  LAWS.  165 

the  ruin  of  their  country.  But  before  the  last  day,  for  the 
reason  that  their  tender  souls  cannot  endure  the  sight  of  the 
impending  ruin,  Mr.  Swank,  together  with  the  members  of  his 
association,  will  have  chartered  a  special  steamer  and  sailed  to 
France,  where  they  can  behold  in  full  bloom  the  system  which 
they  for  years  successfully  advocated  here.  With  Mr.  Swank's 
awful  predictions  ringing  in  their  ears,  people's  energies  will 
begin  to  relax  long  before  the  end  of  the  six  months.  If  his  pre- 
dictions were  made  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  there  would  be  no 
more  wheat  sowed,  so  that  the  supply  of  wheat  would  be  nearly 
exhausted  before  all  use  for  it  had  ceased,  and  we  should  be 
spared  the  awful  sight  of  the  destruction  of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred millions  of  bushels  of  wheat.  But  if  his  predictions  were 
made  in  the  spring,  then  there  would  be  no  more  corn-plant- 
ing, and  the  stock  of  corn  would  be  so  much  reduced  that  we 
should  be  spared  the  equally  awful  sight  of  the  destruction  of 
perhaps  three  or  four  hundred  millions  of  bushels  of  corn.  And 
there  would  be  no  more  cotton  planted,  and  cotton  would  become 
scarce,  and  we  should  be  spared  the  distressing  sight  of  mid- 
dling cotton  bringing  only  about  9^  cents  in  the  New  York 
market.  Mr.  Eads  would  then  weaken  on  the  subject  of  his 
ship  railroad,  for  if  the  country  is  ruined  what  is  the  use  of  it, 
and  he  will  then  cease  to  vex  the  public  with  his  perennial 
schemes  for  building  it  at  the  expense  of  the  U.  S.  Treasury. 
The  equally  presistent  and  equally  boring  advocates  of  Henne- 
pin Canals  will  retire  from  public  view,  as  well  as  those  modest 
gentlemen  who  advocate  the  appropriations  of  millions  an- 
nually of  the  public  money  for  converting  the  headstrong,  un- 
ruly Mississippi  into  a  quiet  stream,  which  would  not  erode  its 
alluvial  banks  for  love  or  money.  Mr.  Swank  would  at  least  be 
entitled  to  thanks  for  these  minor  blessings. 

People  will  now  begin  to  throng  the  churches,  and  there 
will  now  be  some  use  made  of  the  millions  upon  millions 
wasted  in  the  building  of  superfluous  houses  of  worship.  Sen- 
sible strong  men  like  Moody  will  lose  their  popularity,  and 


1 66  UNWISE  LAWS. 

legions  of  ranters  like  Sam  Jones  will  overspread  the  land,  like 
Peter  the  Hermit  and  other  mad  monks  who  preached  up  the 
crusades.  Even  railroad  speculators  and  brokers  will  seek  re- 
ligion as  the  six  months  approaches  its  end,  and  Mr.  Armour  will 
resign  his  seat  on  the  Stock  Exchange  and  search  for  a  vacant 
one  on  the  mourners'  bench.  Business  of  every  kind  will  be 
neglected,  and  nobody  can  be  gotten  to  do  any  thing,  and  even 
Mr.  Vanderbilt  will  have  to  do  his  own  washing  or  wear 
dirty  clothes,  will  have  to  do  his  own  cooking  or  live  on  hard 
tack,  for  he  is  a  far-seeing  man,  and  he  will  have  provided  him- 
self with  a  barrel  of  ship  biscuit,  and  will  have  to  wear  his  old 
clothes,  for  nobody  will  make  them  for  even  one  of  his 
Meissoniers.  Everybody  will  be  seeking  to  make  their  peace 
with  his  Maker,  and  even  Mr.  Ingersoll,  and  the  socialists 
who  believe  that  the  way  to  rectify  society  is  to  destroy  it,  just 
as  the  best  plan  to  cut  off  a  dog's  tail  is  just  back  of  his  ears, 
will  not  be  able  totally  to  escape  the  force  of  the  example.  By 
the  end  of  the  six  months  the  fervor  of  piety  will  have  become 
so  intense  and  so  universal  that  the  people  will  be  on  the  verge 
of  starvation,  so  that  in  any  event  the  country  will  be  ruined, 
either  starved  to  death  or  shattered  into  smithereens  because 
the  tariff  is  touched. 

The  six  months  will  run  its  course,  and  the  people  will  find 
that  though  nearly  starved  and  much  poorer  by  the  neglect  of 
their  busmess,  they  are  yet  spared,  and  they  will  begin  to  ask 
themselves  what  has  been  the  trouble.  And  when  told  that  all 
this  turning  of  the  world  upside  down  is  because  Mr.  Swank 
and  his  associates  and  all  his  allies  in  silk,  wool,  etc.,  etc.,  are 
compelled  to  live  under  a  tariff  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  per 
cent.,  no  worse  but  no  better  than  others  have  to  live  under, 
they  will  laugh  at  their  own  folly  in  allowing  themselves  to  be 
imposed  upon  by  such  nonsense,  and  they  will  utter  the  uni- 
versal shout,  that  twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent,  is  enough  pro- 
tection for  anybody,  and  that  if  any  business  cannot  prosper 
with  the  advantage  of  such  a  bonus,  it  ought  to  die,  and  must  die. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  167 

No,  the  country  will  not  be  ruined  by  a  uniform  tariff  equally 
applicable  to  all  interests  and  to  all  kinds  of  merchandise. 
Readjustments  will  certainly  have  to  be  made,  and  many  losses 
must  necessarily  be  incurred,  but  after  the  readjustments  are 
made  and  the  losses  incurred,  the  country  will  then  be  in  a 
sound  condition,  and  in  a  condition  when  the  advantages  and 
the  rewards  of  labor  will  not  be  distributed  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  rich  will  be  made  richer  and  the  poor  poorer  with  every 
revolving  sum. 

The  country  will  do,  as  a  whole,  as  a  manufacturer  within 
my  observation  did  for  himself.  Sixteen  years  ago  he  had  a 
very  large  factory,  filled  with  valuable  machinery,  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  the  manufacture  of  hoop-skirts,  which  were  then  so 
popular  that  even  misses  of  five  or  six  years  wore  them.  In  a 
short  time  the  demand  for  hoop-skirts  entirely  ceased,  and 
what  was  now  to  be  done  with  this  large  establishment  ?  Should 
the  manufacturer  whine  and  anathematize  fashion  because  it 
had  taken  away  his  employment  and  destroyed  the  value  of 
his  factory  ?  To  listen  to  Mr.  Swank  one  would  suppose  that 
was  the  only  course  left  to  him.  But  no,  this  manufacturer 
viewed  the  situation  in  a  sensible  manner,  so  he  either  sells  his 
machinery  for  junk,  or  changes  it  into  machinery  suitable  for 
something  else,  and  becomes  a  manufacturer  of  corsets,  and 
to-day  he  is  one  of  the  largest  and  apparently  most  prosperous 
manufacturer  of  corsets  to  be  found. 

The  country  cannot  be  ruined  by  a  modification  of  the  tariff 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  affect  all  alike. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE      SILVER      QUESTION. 

Since  this  volume  was  written  the  silver  question  has  se- 
cured such  a  lodgement  in  the  public  mind,  and  as  the  difficulty 


1 68  UNWISE  LAWS, 

arises  primarily  from  the  fact  that  protection  has  been  invoked 
for  the  purpose  of  bolstering  up  silver,  this  question  is  natu- 
rally germane  to  the  subject  of  this  book,  and  the  author, 
while  not  laying  claim  to  any  special  wisdom  or  to  any  origi- 
nality of  views,  deems  it  not  inappropriate  or  impertinent  to 
devote  one  chapter  to  the  silver  question. 

The  question  of  silver  as  regards  its  function  as  a  circulat- 
ing medium  is  by  no  means  a  simple  one,  but  the  difficulties 
that  surround  it  are  more  artificial — that  is,  more  the  work  of 
men's  fears,  hopes,  and  interests,  than  inherent  in  the  subject. 
If  one  approaches  the  subject  as  a  mine  owner  he  will  natur- 
ally be  of  the  opinion  of  the  tanner  who  thought  leather  was 
the  best  thing  for  fortifications,  and  will  believe  that  silver  is 
the  one  and  only  talisman  that  will  restore  prosperity,  and  that 
therefore  all  sound  principles  of  business  should  be  sacrificed 
and  the  government  be  compelled  to  force  silver  into  circula- 
tion. If  one  thinks  because  silver  has  always  been  used  as  a  cir- 
culating medium  therefore  it  should  always  continue  to  be  so 
used,  he  will  also  insist  that  government  shall  avail  itself  of  its 
sovereignty  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  its  continued  use  as 
legal  tender,  or  if  one  thinks  hard  times  are  the  result  of  a 
scarcity  of  circulation  he  will  not  only  attempt  to  compel  the 
use  of  silver  as  a  metallic  currency,  but  will  also  insist  that  all 
the  silver  capable  of  being  mined  shall  be  lodged  in  the  govern- 
ment vaults  and  a  paper  currency  issued  on  the  basis  thereof. 
All  these  various  men  will  approach  the  subject  obliquely,  and 
will  of  course  not  obtain  a  correct  view  of  the  question,  conse- 
quently their  various  views  will  be  unsound  because  incom- 
plete, and  as  each  faction  insists  upon  its  particular  views  there 
will  be  warring  and  discord  such  as  we  now  see. 

But  if  one  will  divest  himself  of  personal  interest,  or  of 
prejudice,  or  because  a  thing  has  been  therefore  it  must  con- 
tinue to  be,  the  question  will  be  divested  of  most  of  its  obscurity, 
and  therefore  of  most  of  its  difficulty. 

The  beginning  of  the  difficulty  arose  when  the  rich  mines  of 


UNWISE  LAWS.  169 

Nevada  began  to  pour  their  abundant  streams  of  silver  into  the 
channels  of  the  world's  commerce.  Some  may  say  it  was 
owing  to  the  demonetization  of  silver  by  Germany,  but  this 
may  be  doubted,  for  if  this  demonetization  had  acted  alone, 
India  would,  in  a  short  time,  have  absorbed  the  silver  thus  set 
free,  but  when  the  floods  of  silver  which  the  mines  had  poured 
out  began  to  fill  the  reservoirs  of  commerce,  and  when  it  was 
realized  that  this  current  was  likely  to  continue  for  years  (the 
production  of  silver  from  1 861-1883  is  reported  by  the 
director  of  the  U.  S.  Mint  as  $596,000,000),  silver  necessarily 
sunk  steadily  and  largely  in  value. 

When  the  depreciation  of  silver  began  to  be  seriously  felt, 
the  mine  owners  saw  that  if  something  was  not  done  to  sustain 
the  value  of  silver  the  depreciation  thereof,  in  view  of  the  im- 
mense quantity  already  produced  and  the  still  larger  quantity 
threatening  the  market,  would  be  so  great,  the  profits  from 
their  mines  would  be  so  much  decreased,  that  the  mines,  in 
spite  of  their  great  metallic  Avealth,  would  become  unprofitable. 
They  saw  that  a  market  must  be  made  for  their  product,  or 
they  would,  at  the  least,  be  seriously  injured.  What  did  they 
do  ?  Many  of  these  mine  owners  were  from  the  far  East, 
and  there  they  had  imbibed  the  notion  that  it  was  the  right 
thing  for  the  government  to  protect  them — in  other  words,  that 
if  they  could  not  manage  their  own  affairs  in  a  profitable  man- 
ner or  in  a  manner  to  satisfy  extreme  greed,  it  was  the  right 
thing  for  the  government  to  make  them  wealthy  by  virtue  of 
"  Be  it  enacted,"  hence  they  go  to  Congress  and  demand  protec- 
tion. But  there  are  more  ways  of  killing  a  dog  than  by  hang- 
ing him.  So  the  silver  kings  do  not  demand  protection  by  the 
enactment  of  laws  to  hinder  or  to  prevent  the  importation  of 
foreign  silver,  for  such  laws  would  have  been  utterly  futile,  for 
no  country  was  threatening  to  interfere  with  our  silver  men. 
But  instead  of  resorting  to  this  stereotyped  method  of  protec- 
tion, they  demanded  that  the  United  States  should  make  a  mar- 
ket for  their  silver,  and  should,  therefore,  purchase  from  them 


170  UNWISE  LAWS. 

annually  not  less  than  $24,000,000  of  silver.  We  thus  see  that 
protection  is  protean  in  its  form,  but  in  whatever  shape  it  pre- 
sents itself,  it  is  for  the  benefit  of  the  few,  or  it  is  designed  to 
be  so,  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  It  is  also,  in  its  nature, 
something  like  the  bed  of  Procustes.  It  cuts  some  off,  but  it 
stretches  some  out  to  enable  all  to  fit  the  bed  exactly.  Thus 
in  ordinary  protection  the  market  is  stinted  and  starved,  but  in 
silver  protection  the  market  is  glutted.  But  never  mind  either, 
so  that  the  fev\f  are  benefited,  or  sought  to  be  benefited. 

This  is  the  first  step,  and  it  is  the  first  step  that  costs.  But 
in  order  to  render  the  step  more  easy  to  be  taken,  cupidity  was 
addressed  and  arrant  dishonesty  was  invoked.  The  silver  men 
say  to  Congress,  make  a  market  for  our  silver  and  we  will  help 
you  to  enrich  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  by  making  a 
coin  worth  about  eighty-seven  cents,  the  present  value  being 
about  eighty  cents,  and  calling  it  one  dollar,  compelling  our 
people  to  take  it  for  a  dollar,  the  government  will  thereby 
make  thirteen  dollars  out  of  every  hundred  coined.  The  bait 
took,  and  the  combination  of  rapacity  and  fraud  gave  us  our 
present  silver  dollar,  which  bears  a  lie  on  its  very  face. 

This  is  the  gist  of  the  present  silver  discussion.  The  men 
who  own  the  mines  fight  hard  to  retain  the  advantage  the  law 
gives  them,  for  if  the  United  States  refuses  to  buy  their  silver 
the  price  still  further  declines,  and  when  this  happens  the 
poorer  mines  must  suspend  and  the  richest  scarcely  can  be 
profitable.  And  unfortunately  the  silver  men  have  so  im- 
pressed their  sophistries  upon  the  whole  West  and  most  of  the 
South,  that  there  are  few  or  no  public  men  in  those  large  por- 
tions of  the  country  who  dare  raise  their  voice  against  the  fallacy 
of  government  providing,  by  means  of  legislation,  a  market  for 
the  productions  of  its  citizens.  On  the  other  side  of  the  question 
are  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  who  are  clamorous  for  the 
repeal  of  the  law  compelling  the  government  to  buy  more  than 
half  of  the  product  of  the  silver  mines.  Protection,  as  applied 
by  them  to  the  remainder  of  the  country,  is  all  right,  for  pro- 


UNWISE  LAWS.  171 

tection  appears  to  benefit  them,  but  when  the  few  silver  kings 
apply  this  same  protection  for  their  benefit,  then  the  Eastern 
and  Middle  States  cry  aloud,  down  with  the  silver  kings.  The 
Eastern  and  Middle  States  are  undoubtedly  correct  in  their 
demand,  but  until  they  are  consistent  and  renounce  the  protec- 
tion which  they  enjoy,  there  will  be  no  chance  for  their  voice 
being  heeded,  and  as  long  as  they  say  take  your  hand  off  of 
me  while  they  insist  upon  bearing  upon  others  with  the  weight 
of  their  whole  body,  they  are  as  likely  to  be  heard  as  if  they 
were  addressing  statues  of  bronze  and  marble.  It  is  the  same 
old  game  that  has  been  played  since  man  first  appeared — every 
man  for  himself  and  the  Devil  take  the  hindmost.  For  years 
the  East  has  tyrannically  held  the  rod  of  protection  over  the 
country  and  said,  Buy  of  me  or  go  without,  and  now  the  West, 
vainly  imagining  it  at  last  has  something  that  can  be  protected, 
stretches  forth  the  same  rod  just  as  tyrannically,  and  why  ? 
merely  for  the  benefit  of  a  handful  of  silver-mine  owners. 
And  in  the  meanwhile  the  country  labors  and  groans  under  the 
double  infliction,  and  hence  the  general  unrest  and  dis- 
satisfaction we  see  prevailing  from  Maine  to  California.  What 
hope  is  there  of  any  permanent  recovery  when  we  see  every 
section  vieing  with  each  other  in  heaping  burdens  upon  the 
country  and  the  leaders  of  the  people,  instead  of  instructing 
them,  encouraging  them  in  silver  and  all  other  illusions,  lest  if 
they  speak  the  truth  they  lose  their  popularity.  The  country 
has  suffered  much  since  1873,  but  alas  !  it  must  suffer  more 
before  it  learns  wisdom. 

The  secondary  aspect  of  silver  is  in  respect  to  it  as  a  circu- 
lating medium.  That  this  is  a  secondary  one  is  readily  appar- 
ent upon  a  little  reflection  ;  for  who  doubts  that  this  phase  of 
the  question  has  arisen  principally  as  a  side  issue  since  silver 
began  to  depreciate,  in  order  to  deter  Congress  from  repealing 
the  law  of  compulsory  coinage  ;  and  who  doubts  that  all  the 
heated  discussion  about  the  advantages  of  a  silver  currency 
and  the  ruin  that  would  follow  its  demonetization  would  cease 


1/2  UNWISE  LAWS. 

in  a  month  if  silver  were  to  appreciate  twenty  per  cent,  in  value. 
The  whole  question  hinges  on  making  a  market  for  silver  by 
virtue  of  the  majesty  of  the  law.  To  befog,  to  bewilder,  to 
mislead  is  the  sole  object  of  the  silver-mine  men,  and  they 
have  succeeded  to  perfection. 

They  aim  to  appreciate  the  value  of  silver,  but  in  order  to 
accomplish  their  aim  they  act  as  wisely  as  one  who,  upon  being 
told  to  extinguish  a  dangerous  fire,  should  heap  on  more  fuel. 
The  only  way  to  do  this  is  to  let  silver  alone,  and  let  it  find  a 
market,  and  consequently  its  natural  level.  When  this  is  done 
the  production  of  silver  will  be  curtailed,  and  then  there  will 
be  some  chance  for  the  world  accommodating  itself  to  the  im- 
mense load  that  has  been  thrust  upon  it  of  late  years.  But 
instead  of  this  they  encourage  the  production  of  silver  ;  they 
stimulate  it  in  every  way  possible,  so  that  the  weight  of  silver, 
already  much  too  heavy  for  the  commercial  world  to  carry,  is 
to  be  added  to  year  by  year  with  no  hope  of  a  diminution  of 
the  supply  ;  and  finally  silver  will  actually  become  such  an 
encumbrance — not  to  say  nuisance — that  its  value  must  inevita- 
bly decline  much  below  its  present  price.  And  they  have  com- 
mitted the  majority  of  the  people  to  their  view.  For  a  time 
the  support  of  the  United  States  Government  has  partially 
maintained  the  value  of  silver,  and  for  a  short  time  longer  it 
may  prevent  it  from  sinking  much  lower,  but  if  the  production 
of  silver  continues  at  near  its  present  rate,  a  further  serious 
decline  is  as  inevitable  as  that  water  when  unconfined  will 
seek  the  lowest  depths.  Why  there  should  be  a  divinity  hedged 
around  silver  is  incomprehensible  on  the  basis  of  sound  reason, 
and  why  the  government  should  endeavor  to  uphold  it  in  spite 
of  the  disinclination  of  the  civilized  world  to  use  it  to  the  ex- 
tent it  formerly  did,  is  equally  incomprehensible  on  the  same 
grounds  ;  and  it  can  only  be  explained  on  the  grounds  of  the 
folly  of  protection,  which  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  has 
ruled  this  country  with  a  rod  of  iron.  The  East  may,  if  it 
pleases,  see  the  folly  of  what  it  has  done  in  the  folly  of  the 
West  in  its  efforts  to  protect  silver. 


UNWISE  LAWS.  173 

Three  years  ago  Congress  might  as  well  have  interfered  to 
prevent  the  depreciation  of  copper,  which  declined  from 
about  twenty  cents  to  eleven  and  a  half  cents  a  pound,  by 
providing  receptacles  for  its  deposit  and  issuing  currency  on 
the  basis  of  its  market  value  as  do  the  same  thing  for  silver. 
Copper  was  the  metallic  currency  of  the  old  Romans.  The 
depreciation  of  copper  would  have  been  delayed,  but  ultimately 
the  price  must  have  been  reduced  below  eleven  and  a  half  cents 
for  the  reason  that  the  owners  of  the  copper  mines  would  by 
this  means  have  been  encouraged  to  an  uncurtailed  production 
of  copper,  and  the  accumulation  of  copper  would  finally  have 
been  so  large  that  the  price  would  have  been  carried  much 
below  its  natural  figure  of  ten  and  a  half  cents.  By  allowing 
copper  to  accommodate  itself  to  the  demand,  its  production 
was  curtailed  and  a  great  catastrophe  in  the  copper  business 
was  averted.  So  it  will  be  with  silver.  Fostering  it  and 
bolstering  it  up  will  inevitably  lead  to  such  an  excessive 
production  of  silver  that  its  very  abundance  must  produce  a 
catastrophe. 

Now  as  regards  silver  as  a  circulating  legal  tender.  Very 
little  need  be  said  on  this  head,  for  the  reason  that  this  aspect 
of  silver  has  been  fully  discussed  by  the  world  for  years,  and  I 
cannot  hope  to  add  any  new  light  to  the  subject.  But  I  will 
add  a  few  lines  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  desire  to 
glance  at  the  subject  in  a  manner  congenial  to  their  methods 
of  thought. 

There  are  a  few  obvious  truisms  that  can  hardly  be  disputed. 
And  the  first  is,  that  if  it  is  pretended  to  coin  a  dollar  and 
make  it  legal  tender,  it  should  at  least  equal  a  dollar  in  that 
metal  which  no  one  denies  to  be  a  perfect  legal  tender.  If 
from  design  the  silver  dollar  varies  materially  from  the  gold 
dollar,  then  the  silver  dollar  virtually  becomes  fiat  money,  and 
it  had  as  well  contain  five  cents  as  eighty,  for  it  circulates  at 
par  only  by  the  fiat  of  the  government.  This  process  is  as 
virtual  a  debasement  of  the  currency  as  the  most  shameless 


174  UNWISE  LAWS. 

government  has  ever  perpetrated.  But  suppose  the  silver  dol- 
lar is  made,  say  on  July  ist,  equal  to  the  value  of  a  gold 
dollar,  what  is  likely  to  follow  ?  In  the  abstract  world 
things  that  are  equal  to  each  other  always  remain  so.  But  in 
the  concrete  or  actual  world  no  two  things  remain  equal  to 
each  other  for  any  length  of  time.  Even  wheat,  and  the  flour 
that  is  made  of  the  wheat,  scarcely  ever  equal  each  other,  for 
now  the  grain  is  more  valuable  than  the  flour,  and  again  the 
.  flour  is  of  more  value  than  the  wheat,  although,  of  course,  the 
difference  is  never  great.  If,  therefore,  two  such  nearly  equal 
things  as  wheat  and  the  flour  made  of  the  wheat  are  not  always 
equal  to  each  other,  much  less  can  any  permanent  equality  be 
expected  between  two  such  dissimilar  things  as  gold  and  silver. 
So,  then,  in  the  course  of  time  the  gold  and  silver  dollar  will 
begin  to  diverge,  and  v/hen  this  divergence  becomes  as  much 
as  one  per  cent,  or  less,  the  more  valuable  metal  at  once  begins 
to  disappear,  and  if  this  divergence  becomes  permanent,  then 
the  more  valuable  metal  practically  becomes  demonetized,  for 
it  disappears  from  circulation.  Sometimes  gold  is  practically 
demonetized  and  sometimes  it  is  silver, — that  is  to  say,  unless 
a  forced  currency  is  given  to  either  metal,  and  when  this  is 
done  the  value  of  either  dollar  might  as  well  be  nominal. 

Many  doubtless  can  remember  when  silver  was  so  scarce  that 
Congress  had  to  debase  the  fractional  coins  in  order  to  retain  any 
silver  in  circulation  at  all,  and  when  the  coinage  of  standard  sil- 
ver dollars  was,  for  many  years,  almost  entirely  suspended.  At 
present  it  is  probable  that  after  an  equitable  ratio  between  gold 
and  silver  had  been  established  silver  would  continue  to  de- 
preciate, owing  to  the  still  immense  production  of  silver. 
As  a  practical  measure,  therefore,  it  would  seem  impossible  to 
have  two  standards,  and  that  the  only  way  in  which  the  two 
metals  can  be  used  for  circulation  is  to  have  one  for  a  standard 
and  the  other  for  a  token  or  subsidiary  coin,  and  as  gold  is  too 
valuable  to  be  capable  of  convenient  subdivision  into  quarters 
and  halves,  it  would  seem  that  silver  must  be  the  subsidiary 


UNWISE  LAWS.  175 

coin,  and  it  seems  that  it  should  be  a  token  coin,  or,  in  other 
words,  that  it  should  contain  less  than  its  nominal  weight  of 
metal,  for  the  reason  that  in  course  of  time  silver  may  again 
become  the  more  valuable  metal,  when  the  fractional  coins,  if 
of  standard  weight  and  fineness,  would  disappear,  and  the 
public  would  be  entirely  deprived  of  metallic  small  change.  A 
legal-tender  quality  to  the  amount  of  $10  should  be  given  to 
these  token  coins.  Gold  and  silver  are  used  as  currency  not 
because  it  is  virtuous  to  do  so  and  because  it  would  be  a  sin 
not  to  use  them,  but  solely  because  it  has  been  found  conven- 
ient to  do  so  ;  therefore  there  is  no  reason  why  either  metal 
should  be  fostered  or  encouraged,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
either  of  them  should  not  be  left  to  take  its  chances  for  being 
used,  for  in  the  long  run  either  metal  will  be  used  by  the  civil- 
ized world  only  as  found  convenient,  and  any  legal  constraint 
of  this  convenience  is  sure  to  result  in  injury  to  the  nation  at- 
tempting it.  The  United  States  has  plunged  into  difficulties 
in  its  efforts  to  protect  the  interests  of  a  few  silver  men,  and 
the  way  to  get  out  of  it  or  to  lessen  these  difficulties  is  surely 
not  to  encourage  either  the  production  of  that  which  the  world 
appears  already  to  have  too  much  of,  or  to  encourage  its  use 
by  the  fraudulent  practice  of  stamping  eighty  cents,  more  or 
less,  with  the  mark  of  a  dollar  and  forcing  it  into  circulation 
as  one  hundred  cents.  While  we  are  not  in  a  position  now  to 
demonetize  silver,  we  are  certainly  in  that  condition  where  we 
should  call  a  halt  and  see  the  effect  of  what  we  have  already 
done.  Or,  if  we  must  have  silver  coinage,  find  out  what  the 
average  ratio  between  gold  and  silver  has  been,  say  for  six 
months  prior  to  any  given  date,  fix  upon  that  average  as 
the  standard  ratio,  and  then  let  there  be  free  coinage  of 
silver,  charging,  perhaps,  the  cost  of  coinage  to  the  owner  of 
both  gold  and  silver  bullion,  and  then  let  the  two  metals  take 
their  chances  together.  But  let  not  the  government  be  a  buyer 
of  either  gold  or  silver.  The  government  should  of  course  re- 
call all  its  short-weight  dollars  and  recoin  them  into  standard 


176  UNWISE  LAWS. 

dollars  of  the  new  ratio.  To  retrace  one's  steps  is  not  always 
easy  or  agreeable,  but  no  one  of  sense  ever  refuses  to  do  so 
when  he  finds  he  has  gone  astray  ;  so  we  shall  not  find  it  either 
easy  or  agreeable  to  retrace  our  steps  on  the  silver  question, 
but  it  is  necessary  to  do  so  if  we  desire  to  avoid  the  future  evils 
inseparably  attendant  upon  that  course. 

Many  will  contend  that  the  enforced  coinage  of  short-weight 
dollars  has  done  no  harm  and  will  do  none,  because  a  silver 
dollar  will  buy  as  much  as  a  gold  dollar.  It  is  true  it  will,  at  this 
date,  buy  as  much  at  home,  but  let  a  traveller  attempt  to  spend  it 
in  Europe,  even  in  France,  where  silver  is  legal  tender,  and  he 
will  speedily  discover  that  this  silver  dollar  will  not  exchange 
for  as  much  as  a  gold  dollar.  And  why  will  it  do  so  at  home  ? 
Simply  because  being  legal  tender  one  can  discharge  a  debt 
with  it  as  well  as  with  a  gold  dollar,  for  as  long  as  people  can 
pay  their  debts  with  any  thing,  even  though  they  be  cowries, 
they  will  receive  that  thing  as  readily  as  they  would  gold.  In 
1865-6  counterfeit  fractional  currency  was  knowingly  received 
because  it  could  be  knowingly  passed.  But  let  silver  continue 
to  increase,  and  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  it  will  depre- 
ciate to  its  value  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  for  though  credi- 
tors may  be  compelled  to  receive  pay  for  what  they  have 
already  sold  in  short-weight  dollars,  people  cannot  be  made  to 
make  new  sales  with  no  proviso  as  to  the  kind  of  coin  in  which 
payment  may  be  made,  and  then  they  will  only  sell  for  gold  or 
its  equivalent,  and  all  transactions  will  be  made  on  a  gold 
basis,  just  as  during  the  war  all  transactions  in  greenbacks, 
whether  in  foreign  or  domestic  trade,  were  based  upon  gold. 
And  so  it  will  necessarily  be  with  us  in  a  few  years  if  the  coin- 
age of  silver  be  persisted  in  regardless  of  the  wishes  of  the 
commercial  world.  But  for  legal  tender,  and  but  for  the  co- 
ercion the  national  banks  are  under,  this  depreciation  would  be 
apparent  now,  but  this  depreciation  will  in  a  short  time  reveal 
itself  in  spite  of  legal  tender  and  coercion.  Superabundance 
inevitably  begets  depreciation,  and  deified  silver  can  no  more 


UNWISE   LAWS.  lyy 

escape  this  consequence  than  can  coal,  or  cotton,  or  even  gold 
itself. 

Porters  and  teamsters,  and  express  companies,  and  makers 
of  iron  safes  are  no  doubt  greatly  in  favor  of  a  silver  currency, 
for  a  silver  currency  must  bring  much  business  to  all  of  these 
callings.  Thus  if  one  desired  to  make  a  deposit  in  bank  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  he  would  have  to  call  into  requisition  the 
services  of  a  porter,  if  to  deposit  two  thousand  dollars  he  must 
call  in  a  dray,  or  if  ten  thousand  and  upwards  a  two-horse 
wagon  would  probably  be  required.  To  carry  money  from 
place  to  place  the  express  companies  would  find  their  utmost 
capacity  taxed,  and  all  over  the  land  there  would  spring  up 
manufactories  of  burglar-proof  safes,  and  as  at  present  the 
most  eligible  sites  and  the  most  expensive  buildings  are  occu- 
pied by  life-insurance  companies,  so  in  that  happy  time  when 
silver  has  been  fully  restored  to  its  own,  the  life-insurance 
companies  will  be  replaced  by  the  offices  and  ivarerooms  of 
the  safe  manufacturers,  who  will  then  have  become  the  most 
conspicuous  factors  of  the  mercantile  world.  For  then  an  iron 
safe  will  be  as  necessary  a  part  of  the  furniture  of  a  private 
dwelling  as  is  a  clock  at  the  present  day.  The  country  will 
then  present  the  interesting  spectacle  of  everybody  and  every 
thing  lugging  around  bags  and  boxes  of  this  precious  metal,  or 
they  will  be  engaged  in  counting  it  or  in  storing  it  away  in 
huge  iron  safes,  or  in  transporting  their  safes  dragged  by 
splendid  teams  from  factory  to  warehouse  and  from  warehouse 
to  office  or  dwelling.  Hurrah  for  silver  !  for  it  will  open  an 
entirely  new  branch  of  employment  to  thousands  of  idle  hands 
which  our  beneficent  system  of  protection  has  first  enticed 
from  agriculture  and  then  thrown  out  of  employment. 

As  to  the  policy  of  issuing  silver  certificates  on  the  deposit 
of  silver  dollars  or  silver  bullion,  there  would  be  no  objection 
probably  to  this  course,  if  an  equal  quantity  of  greenbacks 
were  permanently  cancelled,  but  to  add  silver  certificates  to 
greenbacks   ahd    national-bank   notes  would  seem  to  be   as 


1/8  UNWISE   LAWS. 

advisable  as  to  attempt  to  improve  milk  by  pouring  water  into 
it.  To  thrust  silver  certificates  upon  the  market  can,  it  would 
seem,  do  no  good,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  may  do  no  harm, 
for  they  would  either  not  circulate  largely  themselves,  or,  if 
they  did,  they  would  replace  so  many  greenbacks  or  national- 
bank  notes.  There  appears,  however,  to  be  no  demand  for 
silver  certificates,  for  the  banks  are  already  filled  with  green- 
backs, for  which  at  present  the  demand  is  not  large. 

The  silver  question  is  only  resolvable  in  one  way,  and  that 
is  for  the  government  to  dissolve  its  partnership  with  the 
silver  kings  and  to  let  silver  take  care  of  itself. 


THE    END. 


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